My Mom’s Family

My Mom stayed over the last few days, and it was great. I live about an hour away from her and with managing two kids and working from home, sometimes it is hard to find time to just chat with her. Having my Mom over for a couple nights made me remember when I was little, when she would tell me many of her life stories. My Mom’s stories are special and made me understand the woman she became. I decided to write these stories down so my kids can read them in the future so they can also hear these special tales. 

My Mom’s name is Hao Nguyen. She was born in 1956 in Hue, Vietnam. She came from a middle class family. Her family dynamic were a little different than other families though. Her father, my grandfather, had two wives. His name was Tam. My Mom described him to be a very educated and knowledgable man. Back in the day, having a son was very important in Vietnamese culture so the family name could be carried on. His first wive had one son and two daughters, but her son died early due to illness. Because there was no son to carry on his family name, Tam’s parents, my great grandparents, made him marry a second woman. Despite not wanting to do this he still needed to obey his parents’ wishes. His first wife then set out to find a second wife for her husband. 

Okay. A quick thought as I’m writing this out, I couldn’t imagine what his first wife was going through. If I was her, I would not have accepted my in-law’s wishes. I would have left him and brought my kids with me…. Anyway, let’s continue with the story. 

His first wife asked her second or third cousin to marry her husband, and her name is Di, and yes she is my blood grandmother. When Tam married Di, all members including family from the first wife, lived together in one household until Di had her first child. Tam then purchased another home to accommodate both his families. His main house was in the village while his second home was near the city. There was set organized schedule for when Tam would be with each family, but Tam would typically remain in his main home in the village while his first wife’s family and Di’s family would switch houses every six months. This wasn’t always the case since my Mom told me Tam would switch houses himself sometimes. Di and Tam together had six kids (three sons and three daughters). My Mom was the third child. Though Di has six children, Di’s first born son was shot accidentally by a soldier when he was five or six years old. 

I’ve never met my grandfather before so I don’t have any memories with him, but I have memories with both of my grandmothers. I had a better relationship with my step grandmother than my blood grandmother, Di. I remember whenever I visited them, I would sleep with my step grandmother in her room and she would always give me treats. I didn’t have a lot of memories with my blood grandmother, though. She is a good person but she favored her son’s children. Since me and my siblings were born from my Mom, we didn’t receive a lot of attention and she didn’t talk to us much. 

Isn’t it crazy that my Mom grew up in a polygamist family and grew up in a culture where sons were more favored than daughters? I can’t imagine life back then especially being a girl. This makes me appreciate my life so much more since I live in a place and time where men and women are equally the same. If you like her story so far, make sure to follow for more coming. I’m so exited to write more. 

Note: all the stories are true and based on my mother’s memory. This all occurred in the past. Please, no mean comments for my ancestors.

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A little update about our life.

It has been a while since writing any new posts here. So much has happened these last few months. Just an update of our life, Finn is a little over 2 years old and we just had a baby girl 7 months ago. We named her Wren. She is the sweetest baby ever. Finn is such an amazing big brother to Wren, he is just so sweet! His favorite word to say now is “bae” (Baby) He wakes up looking for Wren every morning and he always give her kisses. Isn’t that the sweetest thing?

isn’t she so tiny and cute?

Sometimes I forget how lucky I am to be their mother. When I don’t get enough sleep, when they both crying at the same, when they refuse to eat everything I make for them..I forget how lucky I am to be their mom. But moments when I see their sweet faces, their smiles, their little giggles, their hands reaching out to mine where I just can’t help but just ball and feel so grateful I get to be their mom and watch them grow each day.

I have been thinking a lot about whether to close down this blog or not. I’m really bad with writing in journals so this blog was created as a way for me to write a few things down so I could look back. Well, I’m back and rediscovered something that’s important to me and I think is interesting to share. Recently my Mom visited us and stayed over a few times. We spent time together, just her and me, and enjoyed each other’s company. Our time together reminded me of the old days, when she would tell me her life stories, which I always loved listening to. Listening to her stories again reminded me of the old days and how many of the stories I’d forgotten. So I decided to write a few posts about her life. So the next few posts I will write about her and her stories. Thanks for reading along.

Transitioning my Toddler to the Bed

I transitioned my 18M old from his crib to a bed a few weeks ago and I have to say that was one of the hardest things I’ve done as a parent so far. I’m sure there will be many harder things later on like potty training (I’m not too excited for that though), but I’m so glad that he is finally get used to his new bed. First of all, we needed to be sure he was ready to transition. The reason why we decided to move him to a toddler bed is because he was beginning to try climbing out of his crib and the lowest setting for his crib didn’t seem so low anymore for him. Sleeping in the crib became unsafe. We are also expecting another baby in a couple months so we thought there was no better time to switch him to a bed.

1, Prep for before the Transition.

We moved the crib out from his bedroom and bought a twin size mattress and a bed frame for him. We also bought new footie sleeper that allows him to walk better because we know that he will likely jump out of his bed and walk around his room. He is so attached to his old sleeping sack so we let him keep it in his new bed like a comfort blanket.

For the first few weeks, I recommend removing everything distracting in your kid’s room. We removed the book shelf and toys out of Finn’s room because we know that he is going to play with them instead of sleeping.

We bought a toddler bed rail bumper guard to prevent him from rolling off the bed (We only bought one, and just used our body pillow for the shorter side) This really helps him feel more secure but he still can get down and get up to bed.

2. Progress leading to Finally Sleeping in Bed.

Finn has always slept in his own room since he was 3 weeks old, so we thought that the transition wouldn’t be as hard, but we were wrong! He struggled a lot for the first 5 days.

The first night, we did the same routine. After a bath he plays a little, we brush his teeth, read him a book then put him to bed at 7pm. He cried a lot and got out of the bed many times. He kept sitting in a corner, which made my heart ache so much looking him through the monitor, but I knew that we had to do this. A lot of times we had to go in to put him back into his bed and comforted him. He took advantage of us staying with him for a few mins to comfort him and he screamed even more and just wanted us to hold him and play with him instead. At that point we knew that it wouldn’t help if we kept doing that, so every 15-20 mins we would go in to his room and put him back on the bed and just left the room. We did that probably 20-30 times until he finally fell asleep (it took him 2.5 hours to fall asleep). He slept until 4am and woke up crying and screaming, and of course he got off his bed and sat in the corner of the room near the door. We continued to go in to his room and put him back. He fell asleep again and slept til 6:30am.

The second night got a little better. He cried for 30 mins then fell asleep on the floor near the door. We had to go in and put him on his bed. He woke up at 4:30am and cried then fell back to sleep again til 6:30am.

The third and forth night were worse than the first 2 nights. He screamed and cried even more. It took him forever to fall asleep. He woke up crying every 3 hours and he kept sitting in the corner of the room nearest to the front door. As a mother, my heart hurts so much seeing him like that. I felt like I abandoned him every time I left his room. I was so tempted to put the crib back in his room but I kew that the crib is no longer a safe place for him to sleep in so we just pressed on.

The 5th night is when things started to get much better. He only complained when we first left the room but didn’t try to get off his bed. He played on his bed for about 10 mins then fell asleep until 6:30am in the morning. When he woke up he got off from his bed and played with his stuffed animals until 8am.

Let’s talk about nap time. Before, he used to take naps around 11am, but the first 3 days of the transition when we tried to put him to nap at that time, he wouldn’t take a nap at all, which made him so fussy during the day. So we decided to change his nap time to to 12:30pm after his lunch time. This slight adjustment helped him take naps on his bed.

Now after almost 2 weeks since the transition, he gets excited to sleep on his bed. He doesn’t cry when we leave the room. We are so glad that we did this, and are so proud of him. Again, only transition them when they are ready and when you are ready. I chose to let him cry it out on some days but each child is different. Do whatever you feel is best for your child and you. Let me know if you have any questions.

Links for the products/items in Finn’s bedroom

House bed frame: https://www.cocovillage.com/products/natural-wood-house-bed-twin-size

Twin mattress: Use this link to get $250 off lull.com/sky

Linen Bedding: https://glnk.io/qvw6/skyaprille

Sleeper size S (1-3T) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MQ4Q013/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Bed Bumper Guard : https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NVJV93M/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Pho Recipe

This cold weather is perfect for eating Pho with your family! With COVID-19 pandemic going on, going out and eating with a whole family probably isn’t as fun as it used to be, so why not just make Pho at home? I’m original from central Viet Nam (Hue city) and I love Pho but didn’t know how to make good authentic Pho. We just moved into a new home and wanted to learn how to make Pho so I can invite my in-laws over for dinner, who are always excited to try the different Vietnamese foods I cook. My mom taught me how she make her recipe for authentic Pho. Now there are many different recipes for Pho, but I think this recipe tastes delicious and has attributes that make it stand out from your average Vietnamese restaurant pho. Okay! Let’s get started.

Recipe Serving Size:

8 servings

Ingredient :

  • 4-5 lbs of beef bones
  • 1/2 of a whole chicken
  • ox tails (optional)
  • Slices of beef (optional)
  • Chicken flavor powder
  • Pho Ga flavor blocks
  • fish sauce
  • black pepper
  • 3 rock sugar rocks
  • 1 daikon radish
  • 1 yellow onion
  • 1-2 purple onion
  • Thai basal
  • Green onion
  • Cilantro (option)
  • 1 bag of bean sprouts
  • 2 limes
  • 3 bags of Pho noodles
  • sriracha sauce
  • Hoisin sauce

Instruction

-making stock :

To make the stock (broth) You will need to clean the beef bones and oxtail first. To clean it you will have to boil them for 5-10 minutes in a pot of water. You will then throw away that water and rinse the bones and oxtail. After you’ve rinsed them, you will boil the bone and oxtail together for 5-6 hours. I used a 20 quart pot.

the beef bones and oxtail after you clean

During the stock making process, I put one big yellow onion, the daikon (make sure you peel it first) , 1 tablespoon of chicken powder, 3 pieces medium sized rock sugar rocks and 1 tablespoons of salt. Add a few cups of water here and there since you lose water during the 5 hours of boiling. I use low-medium heat.

Make sure to use a ladle to remove the bubbles and the frothy things floating at the top of the broth you boil it.

After you boil the bones and oxtail for 4 hours and would like to add chicken, clean the chicken in boiling water (the same steps for the beef bones) and in a different pot. After that you will just put the chicken in the same pot as the beef bones and continue with boiling it for another 40 mins.

Once the chicken is cooked through, you will take the chicken out, and let it cool down. Once cooled, shred the meat from the bone to serve with pho later.

Take the beef bones, daikon and onion out from the pot and throw it away. Leave the oxtail inside so it can get tender.

-Seasoning:

Smash 1 -2 purple onion with black pepper, and mix it with 1/3 cup of fish sauce and mix it with the broth. Add 1 pack (4 cubes) of chicken pho ga flavoring blocks to the pot. Mix it together. As you are flavoring, make sure to taste it as you go and add extra flavoring to your liking.

The broth is now finished and you just need to boil the pho noodle. Boil it with water for about 3 mins each serving/bowl. Add Thai basal, beansprouts, chicken meat or slice beef, Sriracha sauce, Hoisin sauce and a squeeze of lime.

Pour the broth into a bowl and it’s ready to eat. Traditionally my family has also put the ox tail in the bowl as well which tastes great. Now enjoy a bowl of delicious and authentic Pho for this cold weather!!

Process of building our small home

It has been a while since I’ve posted anything on my blog. Life has been a little hectic over here. It is a little difficult to keep up with blogging when you have a toddler and are running a business and now the addition of being pregnant with our second baby. But I wanted to get back to writing blogs and be more active on here.

We moved into our new home we just built in a couple weeks ago, so I thought I would write about the process of how we built our home. I never thought that I would build a home. I always thought building a home would be way more expensive and more complicated than buying a preexisting home. About 10 months ago, when we decided to buy a home, we only thought to look into the realtor market for an old home to buy. We spent about a month looking at homes but we didn’t like any of them. None of the home had things we were looking for that made them dealbreakers . But we saw a few builders posting their model homes and floor plans on the market place and began looking into it. We really liked one particular builder’s floor plans; plus we loved the idea of customizing/designing our own home. So we decided to build our home instead. Below are a few steps we took to build our home.

  1. Discuss it with your real estate agent.

Real estate agents can provide you information on homes that fit your style and price range or even help you find builders. The agent we worked with was very knowledgeable about different builders and where they’re building. We told our agent which city we wanted to live in and gave details for the kind of home we wanted to live in as well as a price range and she was able to recommend a builder right away. Although real estate agents help out a lot, you should do a lot of research on your own. We spent days look into different builders and read tons of reviews online as well as looking at the builder’s website. What you really want to look for is if the builder builds quality homes. I’m sure most want a quality, long-lasting home. Even if it is not your forever home, you’ll want a quality home so you could sell it in the future.

2. Schedule a time to go see the model homes with your agent.

Seeing a model home is an opportunity to look at the builder’s craftsmanship. You’ll see the quality of the home as well as how their floor plans look in person. Before going to see the model home make sure to do look through the builder website. Look at the different floor plans you would like to see then sort out the floor plan you are more likely to pick as your future home. List all the questions so you can ask the builder when they show you the model homes. Make sure your agent is present so she or he can assist you since they’ll be asking a lot of questions as well. The model home will be built to look nice, so many of the rooms, cabinets, and appliances are upgraded and cost more than the standard included items. It’s a good idea to ask the builder what features in the home are upgrades.

3. Pick a floor plan and build your home.

After you go see the model home, and you like what the builder has to offer, you will pick a floor plan that fits your budget. Make sure to calculate the upgrades you would like to add to the house, because they add up. Once you pick a plan you will meet with your agent and builder again to sign all the the documents. After you’ve signed the papers it will take about 3-4 weeks to get to your home design appointment. At the design appointment will get to design your home the way you like home. You will be guided through what are features are included in the home and what features are upgrades. They will tell you the exact price for all the upgrades and also help you stay within the budget as well. After the design appointment, it takes about 1-2 months for the city to approve your home. Depending on the city you’re moving to, this may take longer. After the city approves your home plans the builders should begin construction on the home soon after. We completely moved into our new home 5 months after the start of construction, but completion times may vary between builders and floor plans.

The building process was very smooth and it came faster than we thought. What I loved about building a home was the process of building and getting to be the first people live in your home. Also it was probably cheaper than buying a prebuilt house. Let me know below if you have any questions 🙂

5 Common Mistakes That Easily Killed Your Plants

If you google common mistakes that kill your plants, I’m sure you will find basically the same mistakes I will list here. Houseplants are not as hard to care for as you can avoid these mistakes. When I was a beginner plant parent, I did lots of research after I killed many of my plants. So I’m listing them here. I’m no expert, I’m still learning. I’m just sharing what I found to be helpful for me

  1. Overwatering

Overwatering is probably the most common mistake, We might think that giving more water to a plant will keep it healthy and help it grow faster.I killed so many plants in the past because of this. Indoor plants are different than outdoor plants, they live inside a pot and if you water them too much the soil will remain soaked in water, leading to growing mold and rotten roots (root rot).

So how often do you water your plants? Usually with all indoor plants, watering once a week should be plenty. It is also depend on what pot you are using. Some pots are made out of clay or metal. Clay pots can vary in types of clay; some clay pots absorb water very quickly so you have to water the plant more often. I have a metal pot for my pilea and it doesn’t absorb water very well. So, I water them every 2 weeks or sometimes every 3 weeks. Make sure all your pots have a hole at the bottom so the extra water can drain out of the pot to prevent root rot. I usually water all of my plants on Mondays. You can also try to feel the soil by poking your index finger in the soil a couple inches deep. If it’s still moist, I would water them less.

If you happen to go on vacation, you need to make sure someone can help you water them. Without water they can die pretty quickly.

2 Too Much Sunlight

Lots of us think plants need as much sunlight as possible in order for them to grow or stay healthy. Most all indoor plants don’t like direct sunlight. They love bright indirect sunlight. If you place them in direct sunlight for a long time, they will get sun burn, which can kill them

3. Not the right temperature

I live in a place where it gets very cold during the winter and my plants need more attention compared to other seasons. I’ve placed succulents near the window before where it gets very cold. After a few weeks, I noticed the succulents began looking very poor.

Also, don’t put your plants near a heater or a vent. The soil gets dry very fast–drying out the plant as well.

4. Forgetting to Fertilize

You are probably wondering what fertilization is if you are a new plant parent. I didn’t know what fertilization is until a few of my plants died. I did a few research and found out that in order to keep them alive, i need to fertilize them. Unlike plants or trees outside, indoor plants live in a small pot. The soil contains nutrition only for a limited time. Therefore, we fertilize the plants once/month so they can get enough nutrients from the soil. I usually fertilize my plants once/1.5 months. Because fertilizer for indoor plants is typically mixed with water, I fertilize and water my plants at the same time.

I use Miracle-Gro water soluble all purpose plant food. You can get them at anywhere for under $3. I got mine from Amazon. It can last you for years since you only need 1/4 teaspoon for every 1/2 gallon of water. Mix the fertilizer with the water very well. Then, just water the plants as you would normally. Make sure the water drains through the bottom of the pot to indicate the soil is soaked through.

Also, something to note: Try to use filtered water instead of tap water because tap water contains some chemicals which aren’t good for the plants.

5. Forgetting About Your Plants

Many of us sometimes forget about our plants. If you have many plants to care for, sometimes it is impossible to remember all of them. It is normal if you neglect your plants here and there.

But, if you have can manage, try not to forget to water them. Set a schedule to water all of your plants on one day so it is easier to remember. If you forget to water your plants, they will look very droopy and slowly die.

Again, these are 5 common mistakes that easily kill plants. If you own many plants like I do, sometimes it is hard to keep everything perfect, but it is just part of the flow 🙂

Online Store Supply List

Before I opened my shop, I had no idea what to get for a small shop, even when I did my research, it was overwhelming to see the giant list of things people said were needed. So I’m here to tell you what you really need (and of course you don’t have to buy exactly what I list here. If you find other things that work for you, then do it). Below are all the must-have supplies for my own shop.

1. Laptop

Obviously!!! You need a laptop for your business. I use a MacBook. You might ask if an iPad would work. It does!! but I think laptop is much faster and more convenient when adding new products and designing your own website… I only use my iPad to store pictures, emails, and use the Shopify app to check orders.

2. Basic printer

You need this to print out return policies, invoices, etc… This will come in handy when you need to print out terms and conditions for your collaborations….


3. DYMO Printer

OK! This is a timesaver. The DYMO Printer prints out labels for you much the same way a regular printer would, but the labels are stickers and are already the perfect size for shipping, so all you have to do is peel and stick. You don’t have to worry about ink ( which can get really expensive). It is so convenient to print out shipping labels. It saves you SO MUCH TIME!!! With this printer, I will never have to print a label onto regular paper, cut it out, and tap it onto a package. This is a MUST-HAVE for any online store. You want to save time for doing things that matter. The bottom line of your business is to invest time on things that really matter and minimize time spent on small unimportant or tedious tasks. If you click on the picture below, you can see which website I purchased the item from.

4. Scale.

You will also need a postal service shipping scale to weigh the packages. I got mine from Amazon.com (Link below). You never want to estimate the weight of your finished packages. Alway use the scale. The post office will return your packages if your packages weigh more than what’s printed.

5. Your own tags, postcards/ package insert

Including business cards and “thank you” inserts in every package can be a great way to encourage customer to keep coming to your shop. You will want to design a card that has your business’s logo, social media handles, email, and the website for your shop. I designed my business card to be square shaped so I can use it as my clothing tags as well. You can create your own design on Canva, then upload the design to Uprinting.com to order them. I usually order 10000 cards so I don’t have to order them too often.

6. Tagging gun

You are going to need a tagging gun to tag your products, especially if you’re selling clothing. The reason why I put tags on every single one of my items is because I want it to look professional. It also keeps people from wearing your items then immediately returning them. Without the tag they can’t return. It just helps prove the item is now considered “used.”

Ps: Some people still wear the clothes then put the tag back on, you’ll know when you see the returned items. There is nothing you can do about that. It is part of owning a business. But putting the tags on and attaching your return policy will help minimize this problem.

7. Tissue papers

You need tissue papers to wrap orders. Just to make it looks nice and professional. I got 2 different sizes for tissues paper. You can use the bigger size for bigger orders. Link below to shop.

You can get them from uline.com or Amazon.

8. Poly mailers

Poly mailers are great because it’s very lightweight so it keeps the shipping costs down, plus it protects the item from rain…You can get poly mailers from Amazon.com. There are so many sizes and different patterns to choose from too… I just get the blank gray color because it is cheaper and gets the job done. You will want to get a few different sizes that can fit most of the items you will sell.

Those are pretty much the most basic things you will need for your office. Besides that you will need organizing racks, shelves, bins, photography backdrop paper, a camera… I will go more into how to take pictures of your products and edit your product pictures on my next blog post! Stay tuned!

Comment below if you have any question. And don’t forget to click the “like” on my post.

Finn’s First Halloween

It is so hard to dress a baby up; they move so much and never cooperate for good pictures 😬 I was so busy and didn’t really have much time to prepare a lot for his first Halloween, so I just dressed him up using what I had around our apartment. There are so many cute costumes I wanted to dress him up as like a Lion 🦁 elephant 🐘 Well, there are many more Halloweens ahead so I saved those ideas. I love Japanese anime movies like Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro… So I had to dress him up as something from the movies before he starts having an opinion about what he wants to be 💁🏻‍♀️ So here are a few pictures of his first Halloween that I want to share.

No Face.

Oh gosh! He looks more like a scary No Face than the cute No face we wanted him to be 😱. But this costume was easy to do. I just used a black shirt for the costume. Then I made my own face paint by mixing baby lotion and corn starch and applied it to his face. I used eye liner to draw the black marks on his face. This was the most tricky part. HE WONT STOP MOVING 🥴 I didn’t get any good pictures of him, probably because he hates being No Face I think 🤪

Okay, you get it! He hates being ” No Face”

Totoro.

He is much happier being Totoro. I took these pictures the same day as the No Face costume.

This was an easy costume. I bought this off of Amazon, it was only about $7. I’m a house plant lover so this costume is perfect. He enjoyed it much better than No Face 🙃

Last one. He dressed up as me. How easy is that? This has got to be my favorite one 🙂

Neutral Brown Lightroom Mobile Presets

When it comes to editing photos it can be difficult. Thanks to presets, you only need one click and a few adjustments to your photos and you are good to go! In the past month I have been working hard on these new presets. I’m all about neutral tones for my photos. I can’t wait to share this with you!

Like I said earlier, I love photos that are neutral in tone. Neutral colors and feels have been so trendy throughout instagram feeds and I have to agree that neutral tones never gets old. So here are a few presets I have been working on the past month.

Neutral Brown Lightroom Mobile Presets includes 4 presets: Acorn, Chestnut, Terra, and Auburn.

Shop Preset: https://www.etsy.com/shop/skyaprillepresets

  1. Acorn Preset

This preset works great with both outdoor and indoor photos that bring the neutral clean tone to your photos. Here are a few before and after pictures using the Acorn preset.

Tip: Adjust the exposure and highlight to match with what you want. With outdoor pictures you can adjust the saturation of the orange color to get what you want.

2. Terra Preset

The Terra Preset works great if you love the browner tones in your photos. This preset is my favorite for outdoor pictures.

Tip: Adjust the saturation of the green color if you want turn up green colors of your photos

3. Chestnut Preset

This preset is similar to the Acorn Preset, but slightly different in that it is a has a brighter neutral tone feel.

Tip: Adjust the exposure to get what you want for your photos.

4. Auburn Preset

This is a deep brown tone. I personally like using this on photos with little light, such as cloudy day photos.

Tip: Adjust the saturation up and down for the orange and red colors to match what you want.

Please keep in mind that they may require some tweaks to suit each individual image, as the final results can vary from one photo to the next depending on the lighting, shadow, colors, tones and your camera settings.

** How to install dng file to Lightroom Mobile**

After you download the DNG files. Go to your Lightroom app, then click on the + icon, where you can import photos to Lightroom, and select the DNG files. All the DNG files will show up blank white, but after you import all of them into Lightroom, it will show the cover picture for each preset. The final step is to click on the selected DNG files picture on the Lightroom app, then create the preset where you can write down the name of the preset. Then you are good to use the preset.

If your phone is using ISO13 and cant import the DNG files from your camera roll to your lightroom app. This is what you need to do

  1. After you downloaded the DNG files to your camera roll. Save it to files -> add the files to “Pages”
  2. Go to Lightroom App, create an album, then add the DNG files from Pages to that album.
  3. The final step is to click on the selected DNG files picture on the Lightroom app, then create the preset where you can write down the name of the preset.

Shop Preset: https://www.etsy.com/shop/skyaprillepresets

How to Start a Small Online Shop/Boutique

So many people have reached out to me and ask how I started my online boutique. I finally have time to write a post about this. This post will briefly go over the steps to open an online shop. Starting an online shop can be complicated if you don’t know where to begin. I’m sure you may be having doubtful thoughts about opening a shop, like wondering if you need to become a computer wiz or a website designer in order to begin or manage the shop well, questions about how costly opening a shop may be, wondering if you need professional help, or even doubts as to whether or not you will succeed. The list goes on.

I started with Sora Street Boutique in August 2018. It is a one mama show (I do everything myself). Sora Street Boutique is a small shop carrying primarily baby + kid + toddler clothes. We are all about affordable and trendy clothes for your little ones. Check us out by clicking on the picture below 😉

Enough advertising. Let’s get to the point!

  1. Think about what you are selling.

I’m sure you have in mind what you want to sell already. Imaging in your head if that is what you really want to do. Can you see yourself dedicating time and effort into the shop? Also, can you see your business being successful 10 years from now. Once you have an idea in your mind, you can start thinking up names for your business (think of a name that you really like and can live with) The next step is all legal documentation.

2. Register for Tax ID (EIN), Seller permit..

EIN or Tax ID is like the social security number for your business. You use this to pay your taxes to your state quarterly or yearly (depending on how much your income is).

Apply for a sellers permit, also known as a tax exemption. This license will allow you to buy from wholesalers or manufacturers without paying taxes. You will collect tax as you resell their products.

Note: Every state requires different laws. Check the law from your own state.

3. Open up a business bank account.

In order to open up a bank account, you will be required to present your business EIN number. I highly recommend to open up a business bank account. This will help separate from your personal money and your business money.

4. Set up your website

You can hire a professional to help you set up the website the way you want. I didn’t hire anyone since I didn’t have a large budget. I set up my website by myself. I use Shopify to run my website. Shopify is pretty user friendly and you are given the option to buy your own domain. So, I’m sure you will do great setting up your website without hiring a professional if you choose to do so.

5. Find wholesalers, or manufactures.

Do tons of research online to figure out where to buy from wholesalers or manufactures. You can also find and attend fashion trade shows to find wholesalers as well. Like how a magician can’t reveal his trick, I won’t be sharing where I get my products from. Trust me though, it took me 100s of hours of research for me to figure this one out.😬

Note: Most of wholesalers require you to provide your sellers permit and EIN number.

6. Social Media.

Create a business Instagram and Facebook account. Instagram plays a HUGE role in online business. SO, take advantage of this platform to find customers through that space. Remember, the Internet is a busy place; you can’t sit back and wait for customers to visit your website and make purchases. Look for ways to actively promote your business. This is probably the hardest part of owning a small online shop.

When you first open your shop, be prepared for the first few months of minimal sales. Don’t worry, because this is completely normal. Just don’t feel discourage. Building your business takes more than one day. It takes time and effort. But you got this! 👊🏻

That is pretty much it. Leave a comment if you have any questions. If you haven’t followed my blog yet make sure you do so. My next post soon will be about what you need for your online store supply list. Stay tuned! ❤️