How to get a shoe business up and running

Knowing that you want to create a shoe business is a great start, but what does that mean exactly?

Do you want to design, manufacture, and sell your own brand? Or maybe you’re planning to go treasure hunting in thrift stores for amazing deals you can mark up and sell on Instagram.

Whatever you’re hoping to accomplish, this article has something for you. You’ll find solid information that applies to any kind of business. And hopefully, you’ll find something that fits your exact business idea as well.

Take the first steps: Planning your business

Planning a business is a funny thing. On the one hand, it’s important to do a lot of planning. On the other hand, if you think about it too much, you can talk yourself out of it and things can become overwhelming.

The fact is you won’t know everything you need to in the beginning. So, for now, just focus on taking note of everything you have rattling around in your head. Don’t worry about the rest until you need to.

How you keep track of your ideas is up to you. You can use index cards, a text editor, mind mapping software, or whatever works best for you. But pick something and start recording your thoughts as fast as possible so you don’t lose any of them.

Now that it’s all out of your head, keep it somewhere safe. Feel free to clean it up and add to it as you go. This first bit of work gives you a living document that you can refer to as your business grows. Then you can take the next steps.

A professional business plan

Now that you have a personal plan, it’s time to create a business plan. A business plan is the road map to your success. Without it, you’re flying blind.

A business plan will help you figure out what resources you’ll need and how much money you’ll require to start and sustain your business over the long term.

A business plan is also important for getting funding from investors. They want to see that you’ve done your homework and that you have a realistic plan for making your business a success.

There’s a lot of information available online on how to create a business plan, but one of the best resources for many parts of your business is the Small Business Administration (SBA). They have one of the best guides available for free.

Advice and mentorship

We touched on it in the last section, but the SBA is a US agency that helps support entrepreneurs and small businesses. One of the services they offer is connecting you with retired business owners who’ll give you free advice.

SBA advisors are available from their SCORE (Service Core of Retired Executives) program. They can help you with every part of your business, including with your intellectual property, marketing, the search for financing, and more. And they know what they’re talking about because they’ve all successfully run their own businesses and chosen to help the next generation.

Stitch or glue those shoes: Getting down to the specifics of your business options

When most people think about creating a business, they imagine doing the work they love. They dream about creating a product or turning their dreams into a source of income.

That could involve buying new or used shoes online or in the real world and reselling them. Or it might involve stitching leather and handcrafting soles.

We’ve already touched on this a bit, so let’s take a deeper dive on your business options. These are things you’ll want to think through from the start.

Reselling

If you love treasure hunting at local thrift and consignment shops, you can make great money reselling the shoes you find. It’s a little harder to find gently used footwear than clothes, but there are definitely some real treasures out there.

Another option is to resell from wholesalers like Faire. You can buy shoes wholesale and resell them from Amazon or your own shop.

The idea is that you’d buy a small quantity of a few kinds of shoes. Then you’d work with a fulfillment specialist who stores and ships the merchandise for you. That means you’d be making money while you sleep, giving you more time to hit up those thrift stores.

It’s a good idea to follow the wholesale or resale path even if you want to design your own shoes. It’ll help you establish a following and get some money together before you dive into the deep waters.

Design and creation: Finding materials and manufacturing

If your shoe business is all about your artistic vision, then don’t let anyone stop you. This is a challenging path, but it could mean a lot of freedom for you down the road.

The best path to follow is to start small and grow. You may have big dreams of creating a huge company with hundreds of lines of shoes. But unless you have some truly amazing advisors, it will be risky to start big. You’ll have many failures and setbacks on your journey. If you take baby steps, you won’t fall as hard, and you’ll be able to stand back up and keep going.

You can find some used equipment on Craigslist, ask a few friends and family members to help out, and start making shoes in your garage.

During this time, you’ll learn a lot about making shoes, getting supplies and materials, and working with people.

Once you have a few products you can consistently make over and over again, you can start selling them on Etsy. Etsy is a great place for handmade goods and apparel.

When you’re ready to grow some more, you’ll need to start looking at manufacturing processes. You can do that in-house, or you can outsource. Building your own infrastructure will give you much more control over the end product, but it will also be much more expensive.

The right manufacturer will have years of experience and quality control that you can depend on. They may even have their own materials suppliers, eliminating the need to find your own and have materials shipped.

The manufacturer you work with should at least have the following traits:

1. Reliability: You need to be able to depend on them to get the job done on time every time.
2. Flexibility: They should be able to change with your needs as your business grows. You don’t want their capabilities, or lack thereof, to stifle your business.
3. Communication skills: Many manufacturers will be located overseas. That means they may not be native English speakers. Miscommunication can be inconvenient, but it can also be expensive.
4. Ethics: There are so many major brands that work with sweatshops. Unfair pay, harsh conditions, and child labor are pretty common in those places. You can set your brand apart by only working with ethical companies.
5. Quality control: If you constantly sell shoddy shoes that only last a few months, your business will suffer. Your manufacturer should consistently put out the highest quality possible.
6. Excellent turnaround time and scaling: You need a company that can ramp up production during sales and busy holidays. Your customers won’t be patient.
7. Competitive pricing: This is a no-brainer. The lower your manufacturing costs, the better your profits.

Start filling those big shoes: Creating a web and social media presence

Marketing your business is very important, and we’ll come back to that in a moment, but for now, you should name your business.

Your business name will show up on business cards, your social media profiles, your website, and possibly even your shoes as well. So it’s worth spending some time figuring out what you want to call your new business venture before you go any further.

Domain name

The first step is figuring out your domain name. It’s significantly harder to find a good domain than to secure a corporate name, and you may wind up changing your whole business name based on the website you choose. So here are a few pointers to help you find a good one:

1. Keep it short and sweet. Your domain name should be easy to remember and share. Don’t let typos kill your traffic.
2. Avoid numbers and hyphens. You’re going to hit a lot of walls looking for the perfect domain name. Adding a number or hyphen is a tempting way to help you get past all of that, but it will make your site much harder to remember and share verbally.
3. It’s best to use a .com address, but it’s not necessary. There are many newer domain name extensions to choose from. They include .shoes, .fashion, and .shop, for example. They make grabbing your perfect domain easier. But .com is still at the forefront of people’s minds. Even if you tell someone your shop is shuffles.shoes, they may still type inshuffles.shoes.com.
4. Consider other domain names. Even though some big-name sites have cool names, you can’t assume the founders got to use their first choice. Sometimes new businesses have to make an adjustment because there just aren’t enough domain names to go around. So don’t get your hopes too high on your first choice. Stay flexible and get creative.

As for buying a domain name, is probably your best option. They have no gimmicks, games, or upsells like GoDaddy and other popular services, and their prices are comparatively reasonable.

Business and social media names

Once you’ve gotten the domain name out of the way, things get much easier. Many businesses base their name on their domain, rather than the other way around.

So, now that you have a domain, your business name should be easy. You’ll probably want to come up with a few variations of your business name, though, in case a couple of your picks are taken.

Your social media names might be a bit trickier because so many are already in use. But you’ll find something with a little creativity. Try to avoid numbers unless they’re important because they look like bot and spam accounts.

But other than that, you have quite a bit of creative freedom with your social media names. As long as they make sense for your business and brand, go to town. You can almost always change it later.

Hit the ground running: Funding your venture

This is when the type of shoe business you’re hoping to start really matters. If you’re looking to resell wholesale shoes on Amazon or your own shop, you can get started with just a few hundred dollars for product samples and online services.

If you want to create your own brand, you’ll need to consider supply chains, material costs, staff, production machinery, inventory storage, and much more. All of that can add up to quite a lot, and you’ll probably need financing.

Here are a few things to consider when looking for funding:

1. Know your numbers. Before you even start looking for funding, you need to have a clear idea of how much money you’ll need and what you’ll use it for. This will help you answer questions from potential investors and lenders. You should already have everything laid out in your business plan.
2. Be realistic about your goals. It’s important to have realistic expectations when seeking funding for your business. Keep in mind that investors are taking a risk by investing in your company, so don’t ask for more money than you need. Think carefully about how you plan to use the funds and what you expect to achieve with them.
3. Be prepared to answer tough questions. When you’re seeking funding from potential investors, they’ll want to know everything about your business. That includes your financials, business model, competition, and plans for the future. So be prepared to answer any and all questions that come your way.
4. Have a backup plan. It’s always a good idea to have a backup plan for funding your business. That way, if you don’t get the investment you’re hoping for, you can still move forward with other options.
5. Be patient. Seeking funding can be a long and difficult process. It’s important to be patient and keep trying — even if you don’t get the results you want right away.

If you find yourself unable to fund your business, you may need to start more humbly. As the song goes, “Don’t believe me, just watch.”

Make the shoes yourself any way you can and sell them anywhere you can. You may be able to rent or buy used machinery to start creating the shoes yourself. Then you can start selling them to local boutiques that won’t expect a huge inventory. Don’t forget the option of selling on Etsy.

Once you’ve got proof of your ability and determination, you can try the financing route again with solid sales figures and a physical product in hand.

Financing sources

Before you go borrowing thousands of dollars, please understand that it’s important to talk to a financial expert early on. Talk to your advisors, financial planners, or accountants before you invest someone’s life savings in your business.

Remember that nine out of 10 businesses fail, and every success story started with an untold series of failures and learning experiences. Proceed bravely but with good sense.

Here are a few ways you can fund your business:

1. Crowdfunding: This is probably your best bet. Kickstarter does much more than get you money to start a business. They help you learn whether people want your product or not. If they don’t, they won’t invest. Also, Kickstarter requires you to have a physical product made before you get started. If you can’t make a shoe, you probably shouldn’t be asking for money to start a shoe business.
2. Bootstrapping: Remember earlier when we mentioned that if you can’t secure funds, you should try winging it and selling to boutiques and Etsy? Yeah, that can be more than a placeholder until you get the money. It can make you the money you need to grow and expand.
3. Personal savings and credit cards: If you only need a small amount of money, this could be your best bet. Just please don’t wipe yourself out in the process.
4. Friends and family: Ask your friends and family for help. If you’ve got a rich aunt who’s always been supportive, she may be able to help your business get off the ground.

Lace up tight: Focusing on legal matters

No matter what kind of business you go with, it’s never too early to start thinking about legal matters. Here are a few things to consider:

1. Incorporation: A corporation is a separate entity from a person. By creating one, you’re transferring the liability away from yourself and onto your business. That means you’ll have some protection from lawsuits and debts associated with your business.
2. Federal and state tax IDs: An Employer Identification Number (EIN) works like a Social Security card for your business. It lets you open a business checking account and file taxes. Some companies won’t do business with you unless you have one.
3. Licenses and permits: This is kind of a tricky one. If you’re going to sell anything in a physical location, you definitely need a permit. You could need a permit from your city, county, or both. Some places have requirements for selling online, and the laws are different from area to area. Talk to your mentors and call your local officials to get the full story.
4. Copyright, patent, and trademark: Always protect your intellectual property. Copyright your designs and trademark your logos and catchphrases. If you come up with a unique design method or manufacturing technique, you should patent that as well.
5. Taxes: Unless you start making billions, you won’t be able to get out of paying taxes. You can do most of your accounting on your own in the beginning, but as soon as you start hiring people and dealing with big numbers, things will get more complicated. Make sure to talk to an accountant early on to safeguard your business from small but expensive mistakes.
6. Insurance: Insurance is important if you have a physical location that’s open to the public or if you have staff working in a brick-and-mortar location. Don’t let simple accidents wipe out your business.
7. Contracts: Every website you sign up for has terms of service. They’re the legal terms you agree to when working with them. You essentially sign a contract that you won’t sue them if you lose money from using their software, among many other things. It’s important to have a contract in place for every business transaction and relationship, especially if money is involved.
8. Employment law: You should be considering this as soon as you bring in your first employee, but it’s the kind of thing that’s better left to a specialist. You don’t need to hire a dedicated human resources (HR) person in the beginning, though. There are plenty of websites that can streamline the process for you.

Take those nice shoes for a spin: Marketing your goods

Years ago, marketing was all about creating great ads and placing them somewhere as obvious as you could afford. But the modern consumer is much more sophisticated than ever before, and they have many more options and much more access to research.

Ads just don’t do it anymore — at least, not like they used to, anyway. Successful modern marketing requires you to build a following and think like a marketer.

Thinking like a marketer

You can learn all the ins and outs of social media, analytics, and search engine optimization and still not be able to draw a crowd without paying for ads. In order to break the cycle of spending most of your estimated profit on each customer, you’ll need to get followers, and that means you’ll need to think like a marketer.

Here are three of the most important things you have to focus on:

1. Understanding strategy vs tactics: Strategy is what you do to get ready for a fight. Tactics are the things you do during the fight. Most people confuse the two, but they’re very different. Writing articles about ethically manufactured shoes is a tactic. Showing people bringing back a popular dance craze in your shoes on TikTok is a tactic. Having a well-rounded approach that brings your brand to life is a strategy.
2. Finding or creating your community and becoming a leader among them: You don’t need a huge following to make a huge splash. Small brands succeed when they have raving fans. By showing that your brand “gets it,” you can become central to a small niche of followers — and those followers will come back again and again because of it.
3. Getting out on the long tail: The long tail is a concept that lays out popularity on a graph. On the left of the graph, you have the brands that dominate the space — that side is full. On the right — where there’s lots of room — you have the lesser-known brands. Brands like Nike, Adidas, and Vans are on the left. Brands that feature glow-in-the-dark laces and dinosaur designs are on the right of the graph. You can’t compete with the brands on the left. You want to be on the right side (the long tail) where the niches thrive.

You can learn all three of those concepts and many more from Seth Godin. So far, he’s written20 bestsellers and he publishes great advice on his. If you want to get started with one of his books, the best one to dive into is This Is Marketing. Even if you’re going to be hiring marketing professionals, it’s a good book to read to help you understand this critical aspect of your business.

Pad those insoles: Getting the right software

Thanks to the internet, this is the best time in history to start a business. Powerful software solutions give the average person the ability to do jobs that used to require an education and a small team.

These are some of the tools that will give you the most bang for your buck:

1. Google’s cloud-based suite of tools will let you and your team communicate and work together in real time. And when your business grows, they offer Workspace, which is designed for companies of every size, from tiny mom-and-pops to massive enterprises.
2. Jotform is the premier communication automation tool. Its versatility means that you’ll constantly find places in your business processes where it’s the perfect match.
3. Jotform is probably the most versatile productivity tool currently available. If all you need is a few checklists, it can take care of them with no problem. If you want a huge collection of custom tools designed to manage every aspect of your business, it’s good at that too. The one drawback is that it’s kind of a lot to learn if you’re not very tech-savvy, but it’s worth the time investment to pick it up.

Now that we’ve met the software, let’s learn how you can use it in all of your business processes.

Run the trails: Mastering business processes

In the beginning, running your business is going to be simple. You can mostly focus on improving your craft. If you’re working with one or two friends in a garage, then everyone knows what needs to be done, and work can change hands easily and smoothly.

But once things start growing, they can get out of hand fast. That’s why it’s important to start developing effective systems early on.

You should practice doing every job until you get it down. Then document how it’s done — and do it in a way that’s as easy to follow as a checklist. Do this for handling customer service, ordering supplies, updating your marketing campaigns, and so on.

Now, when you need to hire someone new, you can spend less time training, and fewer tasks will be subject to interpretation.

The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber is an excellent book that will teach you how to work on your business, not just in your business. The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss is another outstanding book that will teach you how to automate and outsource much of your business.

Here are some common processes and some tricks for managing them:

1. Accounting: This involves bookkeeping, payroll, and taxes. QuickBooks is the most popular choice for small businesses and the self-employed.
2. Human resources: This department handles hiring, firing, managing benefits, and more. You can handle most of your HR needs with Jotform. You can use it to receive resumes, fill out legal documents, manage employee lists and information, and much more.
3. Customer service: Keeping your customers happy is probably the most important part of your business. This is another area where Jotform is your friend. You can create forms to collect service requests, return requests, product feedback, and more.
4. Research and development: You’ll need to be constantly innovating to keep your customers excited about your brand. You can track all of your research using Google Docs. It’s also great for collaborative work.
5. Marketing: We’ve already covered this in detail. Google Docs can help you manage your campaigns. Jotform has many templates you can use to collect email addresses, do market research, and much more. Jotform can also streamline your social media marketing by automating posts and assisting with launching professional email campaigns that avoid being flagged as spam.
6. Quality assurance: It’s important to make sure your end product meets the highest standards possible. Jotform can help you streamline the inspection process. And Jotform Workflows can automate your policies and procedures for decision-making.
7. Shipping and receiving: You don’t need a huge warehouse to store all of your products these days. There are many fulfillment services available. They will store your product, pack it, and ship it. They’ll also handle returns and a certain amount of customer service. Amazon is one reliable provider of fulfillment.
8. Manufacturing: You’ll need a lot of records and documents to manage your manufacturing. Google Docs should provide everything you need.

9. Storefront: Jotform can make setting up an online store one of the easiest parts of building your business, thanks to the Jotform Store Builder.

Lace it all up

There’s a lot involved in starting a business, but the most important thing is to start! Don’t overthink it. Don’t overplan it. Don’t spend too much on it. Don’t psych yourself out. Just roll up your sleeves and get to work.

At the beginning of this guide, we went over the fact that you have to do lots of up-front planning. And that’s true. But it’s mostly to get the ideas out of your head and somewhere safe. Once you’ve done that, just get back to work.

The information in this article was a lot to digest. You can safely bookmark it and forget most of what you read. But keep it in the back of your mind. When you need more information, come back here to help figure out your next steps.

Whatever success looks like for you, here’s hoping you’ll see it. And here’s to you for taking the first steps!

Photo by Kampus Production