Toy Library: A Fantastic Small Business Idea

by Ann

Hello my name is Anne- Coby, when both of my children started going to senior school I realized that I had quite a lot of free time in the mornings and afternoon. I wanted to utilize that time in doing something positive and that would help to earn me an income.

I got married at the age of 21 and therefore I do not have any professional training that would help me secure a job that would pay well.

I am an avid reader and I frequently visit the library near my home. On one such visit I suddenly got the idea of opening a toy library where children can come and issue toys in their name and return it in one week after they played with the toy to their heart’s content.

Kids have a tendency to lose interest very quickly and move on to another toy. Another reason for this being a good idea is that I had a lot of toys of my children stored in my house and I simply did not know what to do with them. The children would also get to enjoy many toys at a fraction of their cost.

The next step in this process involved taking an inventory of the toys that I already had and also buying some more from the market. This involved some investment and another important difficulty facing me was that of advertising for this library to create awareness.

I got pamphlets printed and asked the newspaper man to deliver it along with the Sunday issue of the paper. This was added cost. I was a bit apprehensive as I had invested not by any means a large sum but quite a nice sum from my savings.

I converted the guest room in my house into a toy library. As more and more people are getting informed about it I am getting more and more customers. The feedback is very positive and I am thinking about expanding this business subsequently. I did face some problems regarding the condition of the toys when they were returned and I even had to block some of my clients from issuing any more toys but all in all it was a very good learning experience.

Now I can proudly say that I am a better conversationalist and a much more confident individual through starting my own toy business. And through my experience I encourage you to do the same and start your own small business no matter what anyone else tells you. It‘s up to you to discover what the future holds for you.
Best of luck Anne