Selling Her Shoe Designs Will Take Some Footwork
Q: I have been designing ladies shoes for a dozen years. I have a beautiful collection of evening and bridal shoe designs I would like to market. How do I go about it?
--Caroline Augustine, Mission Hills
A: Selling your designs is not going to be easy. Because of the extremely competitive nature of the consumer design industry--we’re talking not only shoes, but also clothing, furniture, cars and other consumer goods--most manufacturers rely on their staff of in-house designers to dream up new designs for them. Unless they are trying for something completely new and different, most companies do not hire freelance designers or buy designs outright.
If you want to try shopping your portfolio around and possibly being hired as a shoe designer, do some homework first. Visit bridal/evening wear shops and note what shoe labels they carry. Find out who the manufacturers are, then contact them and ask for an interview. If they feel your ideas fit with the company’s image, price point and manufacturing capability, you may get yourself hired.
Another way to do it: Have your designs made into prototypes and try marketing the shoes yourself, either through industry trade shows or by hiring a manufacturer’s representative. This will require an outlay of capital, because you’ll need a marketing budget and a contract with a shoe manufacturer.
If you go the trade show route, which can be costly, you’ll want to exhibit your line at business-to-business shows that attract bridal store retailers. If you set up a nice booth and have a good product line, this is a way to get yourself some exposure in the industry. The downside is that some specialty markets only have shows once a year or every other year.
Hiring a sales rep is the way to do it if you’d rather not knock on doors or attend shows personally. The manufacturer’s representatives typically cover a particular geographic territory, so if you want to market the shoes nationwide, you’ll need to contract with several individuals. Because you are selling in a specialty market, these reps may be difficult to locate, but with some due diligence you can find them.
--Jean Gipe, professor and director, Apparel Technology and Research Center, Cal Poly Pomona
Billing, Transcription Are Separate Challenges
Q: My daughter is interested in learning the medical billing and transcription business so she can work on a part-time basis while she attends college. In the research I’ve done, I find a lot of generic claims about how good a home-based business this is, but nothing concrete about how to get started. Do you have any suggestions?
--Abdul Khan, San Gabriel
A: First off, you’re talking here about two distinctly different businesses, medical billing and medical transcription. Each has its challenges. I wouldn’t think about trying to mix the two, especially not on a part-time basis.
In medical billing, the entrepreneur works directly with doctors (or anyone who participates in third-party billing) to process their insurance claims to state and private insurance companies. The challenge here is marketing--breaking through the white curtain of a medical office to a physician or an office manager.
Learning the process is not difficult for someone who is bright and conscientious, and free classes are available through extension programs and community college courses. You’ll probably have a better chance of success in an area where there are still a high percentage of doctors in private practice, since large medical offices are going toward in-house, electronic billing.
Medical transcription, on the other hand, has a steep learning curve that goes with it. The service provided turns dictation done by physicians and other health-care professionals into reports, manuscripts and other patient-care documents. The precise vocabulary that must be mastered is not easy for someone unfamiliar with medical jargon, but correspondence courses and classes are available at local colleges. Some professionals advise that anyone thinking about this business should work in a doctor’s office for a year or two.
Claims you may come across in your research about how easy and cheap it is to get started in a home business are nearly always overstated. Yes, these businesses can be done out of the home, and buying the hardware and software needed is relatively cheap. But unless your daughter is a high-energy person dedicated to this field--or someone hoping to go into medicine who could benefit from learning about this industry--there are probably less consuming ways for working her way through college.
Rick Benzel has written a good book, published by McGraw-Hill: “Making Money in a Health Service Business on Your Home-based PC.” If you’re serious about this field, you ought to purchase a copy.
--Paul Edwards, home-based business expert and author
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Send letters to Karen E. Klein, Los Angeles Times, 1333 S. Mayflower Ave., Suite 100, Monrovia, CA 91016, or e-mail kklein6349@aol.com. Include your name, address and telephone number. This column is designed to answer questions of general interest. It should not be construed as legal advice.
