Am I ready to have an upcycling business?

One of my ultimate goals in life is to own my own upcycling business. I want to collect trash and discarded items and turn them into useful products and artwork. My primary goal is to find clever ways to reuse items and keep them out of the landfill. I’d like to change the way we think about recycling. However, I’ve run into a few dilemmas while pursuing this dream of mine which have me feeling pretty discouraged.

Where do I store the junk?

It’s incredibly easy to accumulate large amounts of trash. It’s not so easy to turn it into something useful. And seeing as how I’m currently living in a bus, my options are limited when it comes to storage space. I refuse to use friends and family as my own personal storage units. Fortunately, I’m a member at creative collaboration art studio which gives me some storage space and full use of their power tools, but I don’t want to junk up the place. I think if I start small and not try to rescue every piece of trash at once, it’ll help me not to get too overwhelmed.

What do I do with all the junk?

One thing I don’t want to do is make a bunch of cheesy products that no one would want. I want useful, safe, beautiful items. As much as I love gluing googly eyes on toilet paper rolls, I don’t want this business to appear gimmicky or “trashy”. Right now, I’ve got a few storage bins full of items; discarded game pieces, old magazines, make-up, and an assortment of junk. I am creative on occasion, but it’s just so much easier to chuck these things in the trashcan. Thank goodness for Pinterest!

How much money will I invest in such a risky idea?

Buying the materials and tools necessary to turn junk into art could get pretty expensive, especially since there isn’t exactly a huge market of people eager to buy stuff made out of trash. I don’t want to take out business loans for a business idea I’m not 100% confident about. I’m going to start by treating my projects as a simple hobby that I can comfortably afford out of my own pocket and maybe give items away as gifts before I start trying to actually sell stuff.

What would I call my business?

When I first mentioned this idea, I asked friends for names for the business and there were a lot of cute, creative ones. But my favorite so far is the 4R Bazarre — Rose’s Recycling Reusing Reducing Bazarre: a specialty, green-themed, eco-friendly shop that offers a variety of upcycled products as well as other eco-friendly items. I’m at the starting line and we’ll see how it goes. I don’t know much about business, marketing, advertising, etc. so things may change if I am successful.

How big of a difference will my business even make?

The more research I do, the more discouraged I become. There’s already so much junk in the landfills. What difference is a cheesy bracelet made out of magazines going to do? Or a painting made entirely out of recycled make-up? What impact could that possibly have? Probably not much. In fact, definitely not much in the grand scheme of things, but I’m not going to let that be a deterrent. The fact is I’ve always been passionate about the environment. If I can’t get people on board with upcycling, at least I’ll know I did my part as an individual. And who knows, maybe it will become a trend.

Where do I get started?

Making art out of trash is new to me. I don’t want to break the bank or end up with boxes of unusable crap. I figured the best way to get started is to develop a very basic step-by-step plan to see just how successful I can be. I don’t like taking big risks, so starting small and treating this venture like a hobby might be the way to go. So after researching how to start a small business I developed this very basic plan:

The 4R Bazarre

Rose’s Recycling Reducing Reusing Bazarre

Description: an eco-friendly shop offering a variety of upcycled items, repurposed materials, local art, and other earth-friendly products.

Mission:

Step 1: make the products (if I can’t even make something worth sharing, then any other step is not worth pursuing)

Step 2: If I can make at least 5 different items I’ll try to sell the products on Etsy or online in general.

Step 3: If I can successfully sell items on Etsy, I’ll consider opening a booth at a flea market.

Step 4: If I can make money selling items in a booth, I’ll consider opening other booths.

Step 5: If I reach a point where I’m actually making products and making more money than I spend on the products, I’ll know it’s time to pursue a legitimate business and find my own space for it.

If I can get through all 5 steps, I’ll start pursuing an actual, registered business and look into all the legalities that come with being a small business owner. This crazy adventure might end up being just a hobby. And I’m totally okay with that. I’m not the type of person to give up on ideas, but I’m also not the kind of person to continue pursuing something that is not meant to be.

We’re at the starting line!

Wish me luck!

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