How to Store Stock for your E Bay or Etsy Home Business
Many people have taken up new hobbies or learnt new skills during the COVID-19 Lockdown. Some have lost jobs and discovered a new vocation in life, given up the day job and turned their hobby into a small business. Selling items on sites such as E Bay or Etsy can turn your little hobby into a booming business!
Many local businesses have been hit by hard financial times and the public are turning to support small businesses by ‘buying local’ to support them.
Now is the time to start pushing your business ready for Christmas and getting those order books full.
Growing Business and Learning how to Store Stock
You may have just set up your business and know that storing your stock, tools and equipment at home simply isn’t going to be practical. Or maybe your business was doing great, based from home, but is now growing and it’s taking over your whole house and you need more space.
You might be thinking about premises for your business stock. Commercial leases can be expensive, and don’t take account of the fact that income can fluctuate massively from month to month. You will have to pay rent and bills on premises that might, in any given month, be larger than you really need.
So where do you store stock at home?
As you grow, though, your stock and paperwork could overtake your living space and make it difficult for you to switch off from work and enjoy your free time. Being self-employed makes switching off difficult enough as it is – don’t make it harder by having all your work-related bits and pieces cluttering up your living room!
Spare Room – Some people are lucky enough to have a spare room in their home to use as a workspace and storage of stock and completed orders. However some handmade items can be quite large such as furniture.
Garage – If you have a garage – great! If it’s not full to the brim with bikes, old toys, books, BBQ, lawnmowers and gym equipment you never use – even better! A garage can be a great storage place for your business items.
Shed – A shed is ok for storing stock as long as it is water tight, although it can be damp and cold in winter.
Self Storage Facility – Store stock and finished products in a secure facility can free your home from the clutter. We have container storage facilities available from as little as £15 a week. Store your stock, completed items and paperwork in our secure storage facility and keep the clutter out of your home.
If you don’t have much room in your home for storage such as a spare room, office, garage or outbuilding then storage could become an issue.
Once your office space and storage is all arranged and organised, you can get on with the business of running your business! You’ll appear (and feel) much more professional, and customers will appreciate the greater efficiency and reliability that having a methodical approach produces.
Benefits of Using a Storage Unit
If you base your business from a storage unit it allows you to be flexible.
You can increase or decrease the size of your unit so that you only pay for what you need, and you can keep your unit for just a week or for as long as you need. There are no lengthy tie-in contracts involved and no business rates to pay.
Modern storage units are clean, secure, manned by helpful staff and the buildings are covered by CCTV.
