Even with a minimal budget, you can start and earn money from the region, if there is a desire. An entrepreneur and founder of the hamash brand from Ingushetia shares in an article how to start sewing leather accessories, get money from the state and enter Wildberry.

Who am I and how did I get into the craft

My name is Murad, I am an entrepreneur. For more than two years I have been engaged in leather craft. I made a decision to quit the bank, every day I went to an unloved job, I didn’t like what I was doing. He took a sheet of paper and wrote a statement. Freedom. I had no idea what to do next, and there was not much money. At the start, I had 50,000 rubles. What kind of business can be opened for 50 tr? I was in search, I watched something on social networks, on YouTube.

It was necessary to do:

• With a minimum entry threshold, which is 50 tr.
• To be in demand on the Internet.
• It should be a product, not a service.
• I have to do it myself, with my own hands.

I had some requests. One evening I was surfing the Internet and came across a leather manufacturer. Akhmed Shadiev, a well-known leather manufacturer in Ingushetia, is a manufacturer of fish skin. I watched his instagram and came across a repost of one master who makes various accessories himself, sitting at his table at home. And I think I like this idea. I could not even imagine that you can make leather accessories yourself while sitting at home, I imagined it differently, that such things are made only in factories and large industries. But what you can do yourself, no. I began to dive into the topic, subscribed to various publics, channels on YouTube, and began to study. In Russia, there are few channels in this topic, I studied only on YouTube, I advise you to watch videos of Japanese, Korean and American masters. The channels of the masters on YouTube, from the videos of which I studied, the patterns can be downloaded in the description under each video:

• Melody channel
• Seiwa Korea
• Furaha atelier
• haku handmade
• January 18 Official

A couple of tips:

• To work with leather, you need to be patient.
• Cut your fingernails, the skin is very sensitive, one scratch and the product needs to be redone.
• Start with plain leather with a finish, don’t go for expensive (vegetable tanned) leather.
• The tool at the start can be used Chinese.
• You need to know the basics of promotion in social networks.
• What is learning without practice? I bought the tool at Grumiks, this is a Russian online store where they sell Chinese tools, mostly, you can buy something at a hardware store.

To work with leather you will need:

• Table.
• Awl.
• Mallet or hammer.
• Punch (I have a round punch).
• Mat for cutting.
• Thick paper for patterns, you can learn to sew according to ready-made patterns.
• Do not confuse a marking compass with an ordinary stationery.
• Leather.
• Metal ruler.
• Stationery knife.
• Threads.
• Glue.

Leather bought combined tanning about 100 decis and began to practice. He made various products for relatives and friends according to ready-made patterns. Covers, wallets, business card holders. Stuffed his hand. It turned out clumsily, of course, but everyone said that they say it’s cool, but only I saw the jambs. I studied and practiced for about two months, you can learn faster. When you dive into a topic, you already begin to understand better in this niche. There are different masters, you look who makes what products.

First sales

Having determined the range of accessories for myself, I decided to buy better leather with the remaining money and start selling it slowly. At the start, do not make a wide line of models. Many masters carry out individual orders, at the start you can try to make only your models, according to your patterns: wallets, passport covers, business card holders, covers for auto documents.

I bought vegetable tanned leather in several colors, sent off a batch and began to think about who to sell it to now. Still, this is a creative process and here we are not talking about big money. Try to make the price not very high, increasing it over time. The main sales come from social networks, create an Instagram account. If you have no idea about SMM, then I advise you to still learn how to design the page correctly, how to make content for Instagram, photos, etc.

Now there is a ton of information on the Internet, I am not saying to dive to the level of a pro, but you need to know at least the basics. I created a page on Instagram, filled it with content, and immediately launched the target in my region. Sales went right away, I remember on the first day, I spent about 150 rubles, and they ordered two covers for autodocuments from me, each for 1500 rubles. Products were ready and I went for delivery.

I delivered all the orders myself, our region is small. There will be little confidence in you at the start, when buying in such empty stores, people do not make a 100% prepayment. An empty store, I’m talking about the fact that there is not enough audience, photos, etc. somehow does not inspire confidence. You need to make the first sales and ask customers to write reviews, add reviews to relevant pages.

I promised delivery in person and they bought from me, payment only after a person touches, looks, etc. Publish stories, do surveys, promote your brand.

Exit to Wildberry

Sales went on, I began to expand the line of models, I realized that within my region I make a certain number of sales. We need to go to Russia and sell more products. Many times I set up and launched a target for the whole of Russia, but the result was not very good. And so in one of the publics I see the news that you can now work at Wildberry and self-employed, and what did I think.

Might take a risk.

In general, Wildberry requires a separate article and not one. I’ll tell you briefly. There was little information on how to work on the marketplace, I tried to dig up something on YouTube and somehow I got registered there. At that time, Wildberry had a training program on the site for partners and I passed it. I made my first delivery four months after registration. There was a fear of doing something wrong, I wanted to study everything completely so as not to make mistakes. Since the marketplace can throw your product into anonymity due to incorrect labeling or packaging.

In total I sent 4 models. Wallet, cover for autodocuments, cover for identity card, credit card holder. The wallet and the cover for the ID went on sale right away, but the rest are in trouble. To make money on Wildberries, you need volumes, you need to import from 50 pieces per article in different colors, you should not import many different models, three or four are enough to make normal sales. Almost everything that I managed to earn, I reinvested again.

The social contract and plans for the future

In the summer of 2021, I saw on regional news that the state has support for start-up entrepreneurs. The interview was given by one of the employees of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection. I began to google about the social contract — this is a kind of support for low-income entrepreneurs. In all regions of Russia, this amount is 250 thousand rubles, in Ingushetia it was 100 thousand rubles. I don’t know what it is about. You can submit documents to the regional department of social protection by registration.

The exact list of documents can be found on the social security website in your area. The money is given free of charge, but you need to submit a report on how you spent it.

Ideal for artisans. You need to open an IP. I opened a sole proprietorship and left my NAP (self-employment) mode. Individual entrepreneurs on NPA do not pay insurance premiums and do not submit declarations. All accounting is in the application my tax.

I submitted documents to the department of social protection and two months later the money was on my card. It was very difficult to believe, even when I saw the replenishment of the card. This money was used to purchase leather and other materials for the work. I kept all receipts for purchases, as they had to be submitted for a report. Thus, you can immediately start with 250,000 rubles. this is a good amount to start. They gave me only 100,000, but I was very happy with them.

I bought leather for about 2 thousand dts, and in products it is 210-250 pieces, depending on what kind of product it is. Even if we take the average bill of 1500 r. when selling on Wildberry, this is a little more than 300–350 tr. so good for a start. This year I made my last delivery to Wildberry, these are the items that I made myself.

As I said, in order to sell more, you need to grow further. Working alone, you will not physically be able to supply a lot of goods. It is either to open your own workshop, or go into production and sew off factory items. Quality, of course, in factories is different. It is difficult to do large volumes alone.

Now I think in what direction to me to grow further. I am faced with a choice, a factory or my own mini-workshop. Having your own workshop costs equipment, materials, etc. At the factory, you can make your own models of products, according to your patterns, or from a photo. At the factory there is a percentage of marriage, but in your workshop it will practically not be. In the workshop, you can come up with, sit down at the same machine and immediately sew the product. With the factory, it takes time to develop, then this is the first sample, it needs to be finalized, etc. In the workshop, the cost is lower than in the factory.

The main thing is to start, do not be afraid to take the first step. I used to think that only famous brands sell goods at Wildberry, but now my brand is there. It never even crossed my mind to be among them.