How to Start a Stuffed Animal (Plush) Business: Everything You Need to Know to Get Your Plush from Idea to The Shelf - Paperback

by Promise Monsters (Author)

Thinking about starting a plush (or stuffed animal) business, but don't know where to start? Or have you started, but can't figure out how to make that first sale, how to grow your company, how to talk to retailers, how to mass produce your plush, how to apply lean manufacturing to your plush, how to pass safety standards, or what licenses you need? Maybe you don't even know yet what questions to ask Learn everything you need to know from the founders of Promise Monsters - plush monsters with an act of kindness that started in a garage and are now for sale in retail stores across the country. Written in an easy-to-understand and straightforward style, this book will guide you all the way from getting that idea out of your head and onto those shelves. It's a specialized industry, and this book has the knowledge you need to be successful.

Table Of Contents

• INTRO 3
• GETTING STARTED 11
• Finishing the Prototype 29
• STARTING THE BUSINESS 31
• The Business Plan 32
• The Financial Plan 37
• Creating Your Business Entity 38
• Taxes & Bookkeeping 41
• Legal Concerns 42
• Raising Capital 51
• YOU'RE IN BUSINESS NOW 65
• Producing Your First Batch 72
• Manufacturing Overseas 79
• Packaging and Tags 81
• Starting Sales - Your First Retailer 86
• What Do Retailers Think? 90
• You're in the Money 99
• Selling Online 105
• Shipping 105
• Your Website 107
• Marketing and Public Relations 113
• A Note on Sales 121
• Lawyers and Patents and Copyrights and Trademarks 122
• GROWTH & OPENING YOUR SHOP 127
• Employees 128
• Equipment 129
• Agile Manufacturing 132
• Expanding Sales 134
• Signs and Displays 135
• Taking This Thing Forward 137
• Advanced Plush Sewing 139
• FINAL THOUGHTS 145
• APPENDIX A - RESOURCES 148