If you want to mainstream your passion for tumblers, into a home-based online business, you need to start a tumbler business today. The best thing about starting a tumbler business is you can start it completely online and scale it exponentially with little to no investment. But that doesn’t mean you don’t still have to put in a lot of work to get your tumbler business started. The good news is – we’ve compiled everything you need to know, in order to, get your own tumbler business up and running.
1. Familiarize yourself with the tumbler industry
In order to start a successful tumbler business from home, you will need to understand the ins and outs of the tumbler. This will not only make starting a tumbler business easier but also help you massively while scaling the business. The best thing about starting a tumble business from home is the low investments. You don’t need expensive machinery to make tumblers. It’s all about the design and aesthetics. Since the tumbler business is growing rapidly, you should keep pace with the current trends in the tumbler market.
Things you’ll need to start a Tumbler Business
The exact things and equipment you’ll to start a tumbler business will vary due to a lot of factors. For the sake of simplicity, I’m going to focus on the materials needed to start a basic glitter tumbler business. From there, you can expand and add to your collection to make different styles and sell them.
1. Tumblers
There are a few things you’ll need if you’re a total beginner and have never made a tumbler before. Tumblers made of stainless steel are the first thing on that list. You can use glass as well, but I highly recommend stainless steel because it is more durable and lasts longer in general. Make sure you don’t spend more than $50-$60 on tumblers while starting out.
2. Glitter Glue and Brite Tone
Glitter Glue will be used to apply and seal your glitter, followed by several coats of Brite Tone to achieve that shiny, long-lasting finish. Your cup’s base coat is made up of Universal White and Pigments. If you get the pigments, you can make your own colors! To give your cups a base coat, however, you can use spray paint instead. Getting all of these will set up back with around $150.
Glitters
Another thing you’ll need is high-quality glitter. You want it to be high-quality polyester glitter so that it shines brightly and does not dull or bleed. Make a budget of $30-$50 to get started with glitter. However, I will warn you that purchasing glitter is addictive. As a result, you will most likely spend more than that.
Waterslide and Tattoo Paper
These can be printed directly from your computer onto a special sheet of paper, or you can buy them ready to use! You’ll need a printer if you’re going to print your own! So, let’s say you’ll need anywhere from $20 to $50 to get started with those images.
Vinyl
Vinyl is the most commonly used material for customizing tumblers. A lot of tumbler business owners are actually run just a vinyl tumbler business. This requires the use of a vinyl cutting machine. The machine, as well as the vinyl and transfer tape, will set you back several hundred dollars. So, if you don’t already have one, you should consider how much it could cost you. But if you already have one because you’re a crafter, you can use it along with the vinyl you already have.
Other
You can allocate around $50 for other miscellaneous supplies like paintbrushes, popsicle sticks, mixing cups, etc.
If you do not know how to make tumblers, I would highly suggest making a sample by following DIY tutorials on Youtube, before starting a tumbler business.
Understand the costs to start a Tumbler Business
You could start a tumbler business from home on a basic level for around $800 to $1,200 (assuming you do not have any supplies). An extra $500 to $1,000 could get you off to a great start. That being said, if you want to operate your tumbler business on a bigger scale, it could cost you anywhere from $8,000 to $10,000 depending on the volume of production and marketing strategies implemented.
Bear in mind, the basic level tumbler business startup cost of $800 to $1200 includes the supplies($300-500) and marketing costs($500). If you want to go really cheap, you can buy as you grow. If you don’t mind a little hard work, the tumbler business is one of the best businesses to start and grow.
Is the Tumbler Business Profitable?
Tumbler business is incredibly profitable if executed properly. A customized tumbler can sell for as high as $35-$40 and the cost to make one yourself is only around $12-$15. That means around $20-$25 profit for every tumbler sold. Even if you sell only around 80 tumblers a month, you are looking at a profit of around $2000.
Is a Tumbler Business worth it?
Starting a tumbler business is undoubtedly worth it. The tumbler business is worth giving a shot because it requires such a small investment. Starting a tumbler business has a lot of promise and is simple to operate and scale. It’s an excellent business for teenagers to start because of the low entry hurdle.
2. Plan Your Tumbler Business
Any business’s success is dependent on its ability to plan ahead of time. The same is true for starting a tumbler business. Let’s go over some of the key steps you’ll need to know as you plan your tumbler business.
Choose a name for your tumbler business
Whether you want to start a tumbler business or a scrunchie from home, you must choose a name that reflects your company’s values and beliefs.
Keep in mind that the legal business name must comply with state naming rules in the states where you intend to operate your business; otherwise, the state may refuse to accept the documents filed to form or qualify the company. While you are just starting out, you may not need to register your tumbler business, but complying with the naming rules in your states will prevent any issues in the near future if your tumbler business takes off and you want to scale it quickly by registering and trademarking it.
Shopify’s Business Name Generator is a free tool that helps to brainstorm brandable names for your tumbler business. Some of the cool ideas, I got from Shopify Business Name Generator, for tumbler business name are:
- Tumbler Addict
- Small Town Tumbler
- Splash of Colors
- Sparkle & Shine
- Glitter Girls!
- Berry Blast
- Citrus Chiller
- Tumbler Zone
- Hydro Tumbler
- Bubbly Bottles
Once you decide the name of your tumbler business, you need to perform three final checks.
- First, check your State’s business name database to see if your desired business name is available.
- Second, do a domain name search to check if your business name is available as yourbusinessname.com. If it is available go ahead and register the domain before anyone else gets it. Namecheap offers domain names for as cheap as $0.99 for the first year. You can use the tool below to see if the domain name is available.
Find a domain starting at $0.88
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- And lastly, do a federal search on the US Trademark Electronic Search System and make sure nobody has already trademarked your name.
Write a solid Business plan
In order to start a successful tumbler business from home, you will need a solid business plan, at a minimum. Don’t just get into the tumbler business because it sounds fancy and people are making a living from this industry.
Ask yourself – what will be the USP (Unique Selling Proposition) of your tumblers? What are the creative ways, you’ll lure customers to your business? What is your strategy to retain your existing customers?
A well-written business plan should explain the core objectives of your tumbler business and how you plan to achieve them. One of the other purposes of a business plan is that it makes your tumbler business look professional and appealing to prospective lenders in the near future.
All in all, a well-written actionable business plan is a crucial document for your tumbler business. A compelling business plan has many sections, some of the must-includes while starting a tumbler business are:
- Executive Summary
- Business Description
- Market Analysis
- Competitor Analysis
- Products to Offer
- Competitive Pricing Strategy
- Marketing Strategy
- Fundings
- Financial Projections
You can use business plan software like BizPlan and Enloop to compose a professional-looking business plan.
3. How to sell Tumblers online?
The next step is putting the name of your tumbler business out there on the web for everyone to see. Websites are a crucial part of starting a tumbler business. You need to have a professional online store in order to sell your tumblers online.
Make sure to utilize the power of the internet. You must customize your website and make it align with your brand. You can put images of your tumblers plus testimonials and make an excellent impression on your visitors. Furthermore, don’t forget to include your mission statement on your website and let your customers know why they should buy your tumblers.
Designing an online store has become really easy. The days when you needed to pay thousands of dollars for a website developer for a small website are gone. Thanks to Shopify, you can now create a brand new online store for your business starting just from $29. The cherry on top is that Shopify offers a 14-day free trial (no credit card required) for you to try out the platform. This is more than enough time to set up an online store, upload your products, and set up the payment systems.
If you want someone else to work on the technicalities while you focus on acquiring more clients for your tumbler business, we are ready to help you. Our $199 digital package for tumbler business comes with a professionally designed online store, custom email, 24/7 support and maintenance, SEO, and digital marketing services. You wouldn’t want to miss the deal. Contact us today before the deal runs out.
4. Packaging for your tumbler business
The days where the packaging was meant only for protecting your tumbler products from damages are gone. In this modern-day and age, packaging has become more of a branding strategy. It builds your brand, conveys information, and both sells and protects your tumbler products. Moreover, packaging creates suspense and excitement for your tumblers.
Therefore, you will need a good strategy for packaging while starting a tumbler business. When people see a beautifully packaged tumbler, it lures them to open it and creates an element of theatre. All in all, you must spend time creating an actionable packaging strategy for your tumbler business. Etsy offers thousands of eye-catching packaging supplies for your tumbler business.
5. Promote your Tumbler Business
Most business owners do not consider marketing in their business strategy for some reason. This is possibly one of the biggest mistakes and you should not repeat it. The best form of marketing for a tumbler business is ‘word of mouth’. Once your prototype for a tumbler is ready for production, give the samples to your friends and family to try. Ask for feedback on your tumbler and list the things they liked and didn’t like. If they liked your tumblers, ask them to tell their friends and relatives about them. You can also ask them to share your social media pages with their friends.
You can also opt for digital marketing to market your tumblers nationally or internationally. Furthermore, join your local chamber of commerce, or small business groups in your locality and find out what tools other business people are using to market their products and services. If you need any help to run digital ads for your tumbler business, get in touch with us. We can provide free consultation and resources to market your tumbler business online.
