A street fair in Newark, New Jersey, was my launch to showing gift baskets to the public.

That weekend event cost me $60 which I considered a low investment to introduce my business.

I was lucky. It could have rained, and I might have been surrounded by other businesses playing loud music. But neither happened, and I was able to speak with potential buyers on two sun-filled August days.

No one bought that day. However, there was plenty of interest, and I distributed lots of business cards and lollipops customized with my name and phone number.

Orders began arriving by phone soon after the event from people who met me and kept my card.

Today, you have many more options outside of street fairs to display your gift baskets, especially if you’re ready to sell to corporations. Chapter 7 of the gift basket book, which is all about advertising and promotion, reveals numerous opportunities to get people interested in what you make.

I know the first three places where I’d show off my gift baskets in today’s environment. Where would you start?

If you’re making gift baskets that you plan to sell to other people, how do you make sure you’re making money?

That’s the problem I had to figure out when I decided to make gift baskets for profit, and I can tell you in all honesty that I had to fight my own mind to make me realize that my initial prices were way too low.

Most woman are taught to devalue what they make, what they sell, whatever service they provide. “No one will pay that much,” is what your mind says, and if you’re own head doesn’t say this, other people will. It’s shameful.

Worst of all, it’s truly a fight to get your mind to cancel this type of thinking in exchange for the realization that you are worth every penny and more that you charge for each gift basket.

Making gift baskets takes more than money. It also takes:

• Talent
• Time
• Travel
• Energy
• Passion

Don’t sell yourself short. A gift basket is to be valued at much more than it cost you to make, which is shown in Chapter 5 (Gift Basket Design Tips and Techniques) of the gift basket book.

In that chapter is a full page with a sample basket cost showing the breakdown of all charges associated with the design part of the basket. From there, you include an additional cost to cover your time and workspace expenses.

Retail stores account for all of this. What makes you different? What makes you less worthy?

Recognize your talent and your value. Charge what’s necessary, and you’ll feel better mentally to know that you’re being rewarded properly for every gift basket created for every imaginable occasion.