As I wait for fabric to be sourced to produce new samples, I’ve found myself building out cost models – again. It made me realise how honest you have to be with yourself to build these models. Models that account for all of your costs pre-sale.
It’s SO easy to not account for everything. When you account for all the costs, sometimes the numbers don’t look as pretty. Everyone likes a spreadsheet or set of numbers that leaves you feeling warm and fuzzy. As I built the tables, every once in a while I remember another cost. Now we’ve officially Brexit-ed, no matter where you’re importing from, you’ll need to add Customs (well I’m doing this as a precaution for the time being). Then there’s VAT which you pay on the total value of what you’re bringing in + shipping + insurance!
It’s a sobering exercise. But a necessary one. It actually reminds me of times when I’ve built financial forecasts in my personal life. Again, sometimes you don’t want to come face to face with how much you spend on coffee shop coffees…or takeaways! Or other random purchases. However, the sooner you look at the numbers in the cold light of day, the sooner you can accept / adjust or move on.
A few – not even all – of the columns from a recent costing/target price exercise.
These exercises are beyond valuable. They make me more informed when speaking to suppliers and give me cost parameters within which I can explore certain ideas.
In my opinion these spreadsheets are a must when it comes to planning costs for a new business.
Vendor at trade show: Hi Me: Hi! Does your factory do digital printing? Vendor at trade show: Yes we do (friendly smile back). We only do sublimination printing. Me: Wonderful. (shoulders back, confident, ‘I mean business voice’) I’d like to print on 100% cotton at approximately x GSM. Can you help me with this? Vendor …
This was a big question for me. If you’ve read my previous blog posts you’ll know I registered Mummy’s Muse as a company back in 2017. I’ve always been sure that this would be an e-commerce business so I knew the website would be my very first shop front. It’s hard having high standards and …
Today was an exciting day. After months of playing around in Illustrator, I decided on the colour combinations of my prints that I like the most and sent them to a local printer to digitally print on a number of fabrics. I wanted to see what the prints I designed look like in real life …
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All The Costs
As I wait for fabric to be sourced to produce new samples, I’ve found myself building out cost models – again. It made me realise how honest you have to be with yourself to build these models. Models that account for all of your costs pre-sale.
It’s SO easy to not account for everything. When you account for all the costs, sometimes the numbers don’t look as pretty. Everyone likes a spreadsheet or set of numbers that leaves you feeling warm and fuzzy. As I built the tables, every once in a while I remember another cost. Now we’ve officially Brexit-ed, no matter where you’re importing from, you’ll need to add Customs (well I’m doing this as a precaution for the time being). Then there’s VAT which you pay on the total value of what you’re bringing in + shipping + insurance!
It’s a sobering exercise. But a necessary one. It actually reminds me of times when I’ve built financial forecasts in my personal life. Again, sometimes you don’t want to come face to face with how much you spend on coffee shop coffees…or takeaways! Or other random purchases. However, the sooner you look at the numbers in the cold light of day, the sooner you can accept / adjust or move on.
These exercises are beyond valuable. They make me more informed when speaking to suppliers and give me cost parameters within which I can explore certain ideas.
In my opinion these spreadsheets are a must when it comes to planning costs for a new business.
1 replies to “All The Costs”
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