Give me Giftz

Drop off the kids for school. Make lunch. Get the diaper bag ready. Clean the house. Make dinner. Put baby down.  Get ready for the big meeting at work on Tuesday. Get on the road for 2 hours to go check on my parents this weekend. Take Papa Joe (my father) to dialysis. 

This is my brain & body working on a constant basis. As a young professional and mother of 3 (my youngest, Cruz, just turned a year old), taking care of my elderly parents, and trying to be “super” mom-daughter-wife-employee, let’s just say, it can be a little rough. Until, that is, I dip into my sanctuary – my itch for crafty and elegant things.

Back in college (about 6 years ago), I would re-up every September for my seasonal department store gig. I loved being a part of that gift-giving holiday experience -but my favorite part of the entire purchase was the gift wrapping at the end. At that point is when I realized I was a gifter, not a giftee – I adore giving gifts to loved ones and wrapping them with a touch of custom.

Years later, I’ve graduated from college, pursued a career, and am raising a family. During this last decade of changes within my own life, the world has changed as well, in an interesting, historical and at times even hopeless way. The pandemic, to top it off, has added another perspective to life for me, but fortunately, it’s been a positive one due to the outlook I now have on life.

I’ve made the conscious decision to start a mobile gift-wrapping business as I feel it is my obligation as a strong, powerful woman to lead the way in continuing to spread love and cheer to all, exclusively through the gift of giving. Having a niche for gift wrapping is a wonderful hobby, however I’m confident that I obtain the skill to turn this hobby into a successful, professional, and profitable business that has a high demand, especially during the holiday season.

Although one might say a college graduate pursues a “lucrative “career, I’ve chosen a humble one. I’ve been working in the non-profit sector for several years with underserved populations in the San Francisco, Bay Area, particularly those experiencing homelessness, substance use and mental health issues. That said, I don’t obtain the financial overhead to start even a small business. I’ve always dreamed of opening a business, but never found my true calling until recently. For months on end, from scratch, I’ve been analyzing and planning this business when I put my son down to sleep. After much thought and strategically crunching numbers, a monetary donation would help me tremendously and put me in a position to successfully launch my business.

Give me Giftz is a mobile gift wrapping service in the San Francisco Bay Area. We offer a variety of wrapping paper and ribbon with our own unique style to make each gift extra special. Give me Giftz also offers a curbside pick-up for those who don’t want to or are not capable of leaving their home to purchase a gift to be wrapped. 

Give me Giftz offers a mobile gift-wrapping pop-up stand, where corporations could rent Give me Giftz to come out to their company for set hours to wrap gifts for their employees. We also offer corporate gift wrapping. This service would be charged by the hour.

As stated earlier, a monetary donation would help to maintain our business.  Below is a list of line items with a brief description that your donation will be applied to: 

Marketing/Advertising:
Give me Giftz has a current advertising campaign with a minimal budget through Google Ads, but anticipates making it easier for our customers to locate our business and services locally through Yelp as well as the Nextdoor app. Ideally, Give me Giftz would like to utilize a prominent local Bay Area advertising agency such as Jives Media, Colibri Digital Marketing, or Upgrow Digital Marketing. We’ve also designed an Instagram page to share our products, promote our products via Instagram business and have hired a social media influencer to expose our social media content, however these promotion posts are also limited due to our current, minimal budget.

Website:
Give me Giftz has designed a website via Wix, however we’re not able to sustain using the free platform Wix offers – currently, we’re using the business premium plan and have added special features like E-commerce so that customers can pre-book and order directly from the site. I have beginner website designs skills myself, hence I’m unable to design the E-commerce for our page – we’ve hired a third-party website designer via Zoek which is $500 to redesign up to 2 pages – which we're currently paying in payments.

Mobile + Pop-Up Stand Equipment:
Below is a list of items needed to efficiently operate a mobile stand, driving, setting up and breaking down between destinations, as well as setting up an operatable, professional stand at a corporation:

Craft mobile cart
Wrapping paper industrial cutter
Wrapping paper holder/stand
Crates
Rolling storage crate
Foldable kraft table
Customized canopy booth with Logo
Booth table
Booth covers
Vehicle door magnet Logos
Window decal logos

 

Material/Supplies:
To receive a profit while still providing elegant gifts with quality wrapping paper, ribbons/bows and embellishments, after much research, I’ve carefully selected the following businesses to purchase items from in bulk or at wholesale price:

Amazon Business
Nashville Wraps
The Gift Wrapping Company
Table Cloths Factory

Material each holiday season can range anywhere from $1500-$5000.

Business Filings:
The following are required to register and maintain a business in California under the formation of an LLC/DBA:

LLC Filing Form
Statement of Information
Business Registration Certificate
Business Tax Application
Business Sales Tax
Annual LLC Renewal Filing
Fictious Business Name Statement Filing
Fictitious Business Name Publication
Fictitious Business Name Renewal
Seller’s Permit
Wholesale License
Bank Fees

Company Vehicle

A cargo van is ideal for my business, as Give me Giftz does not have a store front and is strictly mobile. This vehicle would allow me to conduct business in a professional, efficient fashion by transporting material and equipment to the customers homes and places of businesses, or wherever a pop-up stand will be located. There are several different makes and models of vans, however I’m looking for a used "fixer-upper" van, no more than $3500.


Fuel Costs

Give me Giftz is solely a mobile business traveling to customers destinations at their convenience. During the holiday season (our projected highest revenue during the fiscal year) we anticipate spending $600-$800 per month each year in fuel.

 

As a young mother and young professional, I never thought that I would be able to execute this dream of mine; but I'm hoping that with your help, I can make this long-term dream finally become a reality. By supporting my campaign, you are supporting the local community, endorsing gender equality, and driving Women of Color entrepreneurship.

 

Thank you again for taking the time to read this and I truly appreciate your contribution. 

Sincerely, 
Ashley Marie 

"It's what's on the outside that counts"