We are asked quite often how easy is it to start a business running a market stall…. so we thought we’d write a blog with some info on how you can get started!

First, & most importantly, it’s a really useful, low-cost, and low-risk way of testing a new business idea, whether that’s a product or a service.

You need little capital investment, no long-term commitment, and low stock levels. It’s also a brilliant source of instant feedback from customers and potential buyers.

We’ve put together seven basic steps to get you started:

1) Choose a location for your stall – It’s really easy to do a quick internet search for various markets to find an appropriate place to sell your product or service. Be really specific about who your customer is – age, location, interests, career. For example, if it’s a gardening product, good starting places might include flower shows, local farmers markets or festivals in rural locations. Visit the places on your shortlist to get a better feel for them, as websites might not always convey a realistic image.

2) Contact the market manager. There are many specialist arts and crafts fairs across the UK, ranging in price from £10 to over £500. Some are weekly, while others are annual events organised by specific organising companies. Many operate at weekends so it can be possible to test out your business idea without quiting a regular job while you get going. Several market organisers hold events across the UK, throughout the year. Don’t leave it until the day before the event to contact the market. Plan well in advance and find out the cost, terms and availability – there can be high demand for places at craft markets in good locations, and booking in advance is required. Traders may have to provide additional certification – public liability insurance (£96 per year, obtainable from the National Market Traders Federation amongst others) is pretty much standard, and you could need a basic food hygiene certificate to be allowed to sell food products, like hand-made cakes.

3) Be creative with your display. Once your stall is booked, find out the measurements (including height) and what equipment is included, for example, a table, chair, roof covers or power supply (you may have to bring an extension lead and lighting with a plug attached to light your stall, especially in the winter). Try to make it as visually appealing as possible to attract attention. Visit the market beforehand to get ideas from other stalls. Plain coloured sheets or fabric (from local market stalls or fabric shops) clipped over the top and across the back and sides can give a nice blank canvas to let your product really stand out. DIY stores are a good source of hooks, clips and chains to help display products. Think about using wooden boxes or a lightweight bookshelf to stand products at different levels. If you’re outdoors, ensure the display is protected if the weather is rainy or very windy. Tarpaulins are really handy to take with you for use as a windbreaker clipped around the back of the stall. If you’re under cover but still outside, shower curtains are always handy as they’re so lightweight and add a layer of waterproofing to the top of the stall.

4) Use signs to give a professional impression. This should include a basic main sign containing company name and/or logo. You can print it out on a normal ink jet printer and frame the sheets in a nice frame. Or show your creative flair by sewing or hand-making a banner. Other signage can include a short biography, product price list, and also nuggets of information about your product that might prompt them to ask for more details.

5) Important extras – If it’s an expensive product that customers might want to think about before buying consider ordering a small run of business cards. They’re cheap and widely available online. You could also hand out information on a leaflet. Take appropriately-sized carrier bags to package your products for customers – if you use paper carrier bags they can also be used to market your name by stamping them with your company logo or stapling on a business card. The final prep step is payment. Make sure you have a secure, comfortable bag or moneybelt to collect the cash, and adequate supplies of coins and notes if needed. Make a list of everything you sell.

6) Go and sell your product! Always be friendly. A warm smile & genuine enthusiasm in your product go a very long way! Acknowledge potential customers that visit the stall, and be approachable if they need more information. Depending on the product and location you will get a feel for whether you need to nudge people to try the product – eg. a hand cream. A tester is a great icebreaker and allows the customer to try it before buying. If it’s something that the customer can try on, like clothes, jewellery, or bags, take a mirror so they can see how the product looks.

7) Be prepared for, but don’t be offended about, customers attempting to haggle or ask for discounts. If you don’t want to give discounts that’s fine – just do it with a smile!! And don’t give up if you don’t sell out on the first day! This NEVER happens & it can take a while to build up trust with people, and develop your style of selling.

Good luck!! And let us know how you get on!

The first batch was delivered today in a rainbow of beautiful colours, and we’re so grateful to our lovely neighbour for keeping them safely for us until we could collect them!

If you’re around Greenwich this weekend then stop by our stall & you can pick up one from us for free! If you’re further afield, join our facebook page at www.facebook.com/velvetmutineer or follow us on twitter @velvetmutineer, before 4 May 2012 and we’ll post one out to you! Or if you’re already a follower just tweet us!

The “Keep Calm and Carry On” slogan was first used in British government propaganda posters aimed at boosting morale in 1939 at the start of the Second World War. Since Crown Copyright expires after 50 years on artistic works by the UK government, the design is now in the public domain. Phew!

Let us know which colour scheme you prefer? Orange, Purple, Red or Lime Green?

We received a lovely email from Lauren, a customer who was visiting from the US, who was thrilled with her new bag:

I get many compliments on it and I know no one else in my area
 will have one (I'm from the States).  Thank you so much and I
know I will be purchasing another bag from you in the future!

We also met some great people in the shop including Kate from Andrew Flint Design, which sell a great range of products incorporating their artwork, including beautiful toughened glass placemats, trivets and coasters, t-shorts, aprons and jigsaws… it was also really inspirational to chat with fashion designer and cashmere sweater upcycler, Christa Davis, about her products and business, as well as meet Gita Bagai, half of a mother-daughter team, MEMSAHIB, which designs and makes the most beautiful hand embroidered Indian Jackets.

Plus we got to sample all the lovely fresh fruit, veg and homemade cherry tarts that were on the doorstep at Portobello Market.

Handmade case especially-designed for the latest Kindle 4 and Kobo ereader Touch in Apple

We had a prototype finished earlier this year, and this week we’ve had a little time to tweak the design and have now finished our first batch of the new cases. We’re very excited as we’ve already sold, and posted off, a good portion of these. We’ve just added a couple in the Olive Swirl and Apple PVC-coated cottons to our website shop. They’re priced at £28, the same as our Kindle 3 case. These new cases are also perfect for the Kobo ereader Touch too! They have a padded back and a little side pocket, for the charging cable. The side flap folds around the device to ensure greater protection for the screen.

We’ll be adding more fabric designs, as we make them.. including some leather ones. The new design will be making its debut at Greenwich Market this weekend, so watch out for them there if you’re local, and let us know what you think!

Have a great weekend all!

We're featured in today's Metro as a top pick for Valentine's Day gifts!

Our contemporary rose Italian leather zip tote is featured as one of their cool Valentines present ideas! It’s one our current favourites too, and available online for £90, along with three other colour choices of Italian leather – Smoke, Ebony and Heather.

One of Metro's top picks for gifts this Valentine's Day

This little bag is a stylish and practical way of keeping those everyday essentials safe inside. With a secure zip-top fastening and a silky soft velvet lining, the main body and straps are made of beautiful Italian leather. This model has two shoulder straps, and a small front zipped pocket, just perfect for an oyster card, business cards, or a mobile phone. There’s also a handy bigger interior zip pocket, again lined in a lovely, soft velvet.

Sweetheart: Leather card wallets can't fail to melt the heart of your loved one

We also make a range of smaller items in all our shades of Italian leather. We’re sure that these beautiful card wallets will melt the heart of your loved one. And they won’t break the bank either. They’re priced at just £15 each, all handmade with love in London and available in our website shop. Our favourite is the Mandarin on Pink card wallet right now.

Buy online or contact us for more info.

There’s nothing we love more than walking through rooms full of beautiful fabrics, selecting the designs that we think our customers are going to love for the next season! And there are lots of new and exciting designs out there at the moment. The first one we’re really excited about right now is this bright and crisp Spring green chenille stripy upholstery fabric…

Spring shoots: Chenille upholstery fabric with crisp spring green, cream and chocolate stripes

We saw it in the navy colour-way too, but that was just a bit too dark. Can’t wait to get to the studio to cut this piece into shape and start creating our products with it.. Possibly a mini expandable tote and an expandable tote are going to be first on the list.

It’ll also go really nicely with a cocoa brown leather to make a mini zip-top bag.

There is something to be said for fabrics having personalities of their own, whether it’s the pattern or colour that evokes a certain feeling in people or a texture that feels deliciously luxurious or calming or cosy… and we just love this chenilley stripy fabric for it’s luxurious velvety texture combined with Spring colours! Ahh…. we think it’s a perfect transition fabric from Winter to Spring!

The wash bag is a spacious pouch specially designed to keep safe large bottles of shampoo, conditioner, showergel, bath oils, moisturiser and toothpaste.

Lovely inside: Our wash bag pouches have the same lining inside as the fabric outside

Our cosmetic pouches are about half the size of their large washbag siblings and again have the same lining inside as the outside fabric. Suitable for smaller bottles of travel toiletries or all of those everyday make-up essentials.

Handily-sized to keep all those make-up essentials safe whilst travelling or in the home

Our pencil cases are shorter than our cosmetic pouches but are longer, especially designed to fit full-sized pencils inside. Suitable for cosmetics, pens, pencils and any other small products that you might need to keep all together either in the home or whilst travelling!

Especially designed to fit pens, pencils, small make-up items, all with a wipeclean lining

All our leather bags are made to a very high standard at our studio in East London

Using the original Italian leather skins, we cut each bag by hand to our unique design patterns, before it is stitched at our East London studio. The skins are surface glazed with vegetable dyes to allow the lovely properties of this natural material (including spots and veins and flaws!) on the leather surface to shine through. Once the bag is ready for stitching we combine each one with it’s own silky soft cotton velvet lining. Sometimes we create a complementary, sophisticated combination, like a rich aubergine leather and a nice slate velvet lining. Other times we like to team up a match that’s a bit more daring like a lovely pink leather and lemon lining! The interior zip pockets are also lined in velvet.

The width and length of the handles have been tweaked and improved over the years, and measured on actual people, to make sure they’ll fit comfortably over the shoulder even if you’re wearing a chunky winter coat. But you’re still able to hold the bag securely and find your things easily inside.

We designed and launched a new version of the mini expandable tote in November 2011 which uses a very similar pattern features a zip top closure, a front zip pocket and and interior zip pocket for customers who like their bags to be securely closed. Both designs are currently available in our shop.

Squeeze the juice of one lemon into a mug. Cut up a small strip of fresh ginger into tiny pieces and add them into the mug, then add a teaspoon of manuka honey. Put about 2 inches of cold water into the bottom and stir, and top up with boiling water (this ensures the good, live stuff in the lemon isn’t killed off).

Add a splash of echinacea tincture… and enjoy!

Hope it helps to blow those cobwebs away! Now back to the bag designs….

We’ll be posting regularly to our website and to our links on facebook and twitter with all the very latest product news and updates.