A greeting card success story

Chandra Greer is a 49-year-old marketing executive who turned to selling stationeries when she felt unsatisfied with her job. She opened Greer in 1998 after her greeting cards were rejected by retailers. After moving to downtown Chicago in 2005, Chandra experienced better sales. Today, Greer doesn't only sell greeting cards and stationery, she also offers items such as paper goods, pillows, soaps and vintage button pins. In 2007, she was even featured on Oprah.com.

Market like crazy! Nobody will know what you're selling if you're shy about it. Invite friends and neighbors and hold greeting card parties at home, sell to small retailers on consignment, sell door-to-door. You can also use flyers, send marketing e-mails, call potential clients or have a short press release published in your local magazine or paper. Join fairs, bazaars and other events to create a buzz on your product.

Selling online? Expect to have some tough competition. Some of the major greeting card companies like Blue Mountain and Hallmark offer e-cards for free. That means visitors can simply log on, pick the e-greeting card they like, customize it and then send it to the e-mail address of the recipient. So if you want to sell e-cards from your website, some people may be too reluctant to pay for what they can get someplace else without spending a dime.

If you want to compete in this department, you can also create your own e-greeting cards and allow your visitors and potential customers to use them for free. However, offer a premium set of greeting cards - ones that are way better, prettier and more relevant than the ones you give away - and sell them for a reasonable cost.

Is it profitable?
As mentioned earlier, the greeting card industry rakes in over $6 billion and that's in the United States alone. Half of that is greeting card giant Hallmark's piece of the pie. If you don't think that the greeting card business is profitable, you're missing out. The Greeting Card Association estimates that there are more than 1,500 companies involved in this business.

As long as you have your business plan in place, market to the right customers and offer quality products, there is no reason why your home-based greeting card business should not succeed.