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Foto del escritorMelanie Kalfaian

How I Found My Suppliers and Launched My First Range of Tablescapes (which, by the way, I do not sell anymore)



Morning, all! ☕ It was tough getting out of bed today 🥱💤 but duty calls. As promised, I’ll keep things real, so today, let’s talk about how I found my suppliers 🚛


‼️ One of the most common questions I get is: “How did you start and find products to sell?” Well... I had no clue at the time⁉️ So, I did what any clueless entrepreneur would do: I Googled “Where to find suppliers”. Remember, this was pre-AI (wow, I feel ancient) 👵


That’s when I discovered Alibaba 🔍 I knew there were trade shows to connect buyers with wholesalers, but none of them were in the UK, and I certainly didn’t have the money to jet off and play businesswoman abroad 😂


So, there I was, exploring Alibaba like a kid with a new toy. When I typed in my search, Indian suppliers specialising in iron, brass, and other metals popped up. Not to get too cheesy, but my very first supplier is still my #1 today!🥇🤩


👨‍💼 His business was small, family-run, and based in the countryside. He was looking for a client to scale📈, and I... well.... I was small too. My first order with him? A mere $5,000, tiny in the wholesale world. But for us, it worked 👌🏻. Unlike sourcing from China, where I had zero flexibility, working with him on top allowed me to design my own products 😱🫨 which made ALL the difference.


I started by sending a few sketches of home accessories that I thought could work for my tablescape sets 👩‍💻 He sent over samples, and soon enough, my living room was overflowing with products (some of which I don’t even sell anymore) 🫠‼️ 


For instance, cutlery sets🍴are now one of my top 3 bestsellers, but at the time, I only ordered them as an accessory for the tablescapes! (Turns out, finding stylish, high-quality cutlery in the UK is more challenging than I thought. As with most things in this journey, it happened by accident). 


Looking back at my original business plan is hilarious 😶‍🌫️🤯 Not only did tablescapes flop, but the products I thought would sell DID NOT. I’m just glad I didn’t name the company "What a Tablescape" or something like that😅


🙅‍♀️The moral of the story? Like I teach in my SCRUM course, you can have a plan, but once you start executing it in real life, everything changes 💁‍♀️


Long story short: Once I locked down my first product line, we kicked off production, and three months later, the goods arrived in the UK 🚛💪 Here’s a younger version of me, explaining how the tablescapes box would be 😅


🙋‍♀️ Now, don’t get me wrong: today, I have a much better idea of where I’m going, what I want to offer, and what people are looking for. But let’s be honest, no business starts out one way and stays that way.


🗓️ On Wednesday, I’ll dive into how I registered as an importer in the UK and managed to ship my first order by sea. We are just starting here!! 😏

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