Start a Business Selling Musical Instruments

So you might, for example, sell clarinets, and along with them, cases and cleaning materials and more.  By focusing on one instrument, the idea is for you to become a one-stop-shop for anything anyone might want to purchase relating to that instrument.  And that means, when people call to buy one item, they’ll see related items alongside and probably increase their spend.  Also, if they like your products and your service, they’ll return to buy from you for the indefinite future, compared to buying all their different product requirements from numerous different suppliers.

Also, as long as there are people, young and old, receiving music lessons, there will be a need for musical instruments. And that means this is a business that never dies and will always provide a good income for you. 

So if you know something about a particular musical instrument, or you are willing to learn, this could be an enjoyable business idea for you. You could focus just on one instrument, or a few closely related instruments such as all string instruments, or all hand held instruments.

First you must decide on instruments you want to sell. A good way to do this is by researching the Internet and figure out which instruments are typically the most popular and most profitable, and sometimes also the hardest to find. If you find an instrument that always achieves high prices on eBay, for example, with few sellers, that’s a sign the instrument is in high demand and in limited supply, and that means it offers good profit potential.  Then you make yourself one of very few people selling that instrument! 

You could buy instruments direct from manufacturers, or second hand from owners and auction companies, as well as wholesale companies. The best source would be people and firms willing to ship items direct to your customers and to accept payment from you only when you have already been paid. This is referred to as 'dropshipping' and it’s a very common and easy way to run a business without high overheads, and without needing space to store goods.

You will want to market instruments from across a wide price range for people with varying budgets, as well as new and second hand items for people of varying skills and abilities.  So you’ll find experienced musicians wanting higher priced instruments, compared to newcomers who don’t know if they’ll enjoy playing their chosen instrument, so they prefer to buy something cheap and second hand compared to an expensive instrument they might quickly discard. 

The more places you market your instruments the better, so you should sell on as many different Internet sites as you can, and also in as many offline locations as possible.  This will help you become better known and build a regular client base. Having your own site is always a good idea too, as long as you make sure it is easy to use, and provides lots of information and pictures of the various instruments you offer.

The easiest and cheapest way to market your business is by writing articles about your instrument of choice for as many directories and blogs as you can, and at the end of all of them refer to your store or website and give its url and offline address. This will help people interested in reading your articles find you and make a purchase.  On blogs and article directories, try to provide your readers and customers with as much information as you can about your instrument, its history, changes over time, and improvements.

You can also offer detailed information about products you offer along with the instrument, and tell people why you offer certain brands, what brands and styles of equipment most people prefer to use and why, and be as helpful and informative as possible for your readers.  If they enjoy your information and trust your advice, they’ll recognise you as an expert in the instrument concerned, and they will buy from you over other less experienced sellers - even  if those other sellers are actually a great deal more experienced than you but they’re keeping their talents secret while you are shouting yours from the rooftops!