As friends and first-time entrepreneurs, we launched our debut business venture, ByeByeBasketCase, in early November. Offering a unique selection of customizable gift baskets, ByeByeBasketCase is a labor of love for both of us, and we hope that sharing our thoughts and advice about our experience as new entrepreneurs will help other new business owners.

Conception to Launch
Both of us have always loved shopping and the challenge of trying to find the perfect gift, especially during the holiday season. Last November, we came up with a concept for a customized gift basket venture, but we weren't able to get it off the ground in time for the holiday season.

We kept the idea in the back of our minds and six months ago started to piece it together, with a goal of a Nov. 1, 2009, launch date. It's now a part-time venture, with plans to move to full time.

Our first step was brainstorming the name of the company so we could register a website. Then we put together a list of all of the different kinds of basket themes we could think of and a list of what could go into each basket. From there we narrowed it down and came up with the selection for our launch. We contacted a website designer and graphic designer to start putting everything together.

We didn't create a formal business plan per se, but we had a million checklists, BlackBerry reminders and hundreds of Post-It Notes, which we were happy to cross off or throw away after the tasks they listed had been completed.

Startup Costs
Luckily, our startup costs were minimal. We had to cover the cost of the logo, website, product photo shoot, marketing materials and outside PR efforts. We also had to purchase our initial inventory, but we both live in NYC apartments and have no room for extra inventory, so that helped us keep startup costs to a minimum.

We're doing the marketing completely on our own, from posting on websites to creating Facebook pages and getting the word out virally. We decided to hire outside PR services to help jump-start everything, especially with the upcoming holiday season and the gift guides we know will be appearing in publications--we wanted to see if someone could help us get placements, and we didn't have the contacts on our own to do so. We agreed on a budget we would spend to start the business--just under $1,000--and we both put in our share. It came out of our personal savings.

Market Research
We conducted extensive market research, mostly on the internet, and cost analysis to determine our competition, identify the cost of comparable products and establish what items should be included in the baskets for each price point.

Our searches showed there are a lot of gift basket companies, but many of them are very targeted and specific: i.e., food baskets with various jams, crackers and cheeses, and standard blue or pink baby gift baskets. But we really haven't found a business that completely customizes the basket and offers the diversity we offer --a website where you can shop for a chef, a sushi lover and a sports fan all in one place.

We compared existing basket companies and their products, and considered the state of the overall economy. We even asked friends and family about their holiday shopping budgets, because it was very important for us to come up with a pricing structure that was affordable but would not diminish the quality of the baskets or the quantity and quality of the gifts within them.

Biggest Challenges
It took us forever to come up with a name. We really wanted something that captured the essence of the company but also had a little bit of an edge--something that people would remember.

The words "basket case" came up a few times when we started to brainstorm ideas. It stuck with us, and then when we asked our mothers for some ideas, Cari's mom said, "Does shopping make you a basket case?" And there was that word again. We thought it would be perfect because shopping does turn people into basket cases and it was a play on words, since it had the word basket in it. We tried adding other words to "basket case," but nothing sounded right and, in a couple of cases, the websites were taken. Neither one of us liked ByeBye Basketcase at first, but friends said it was very catchy and cute, so we kept it. We added the tagline, "Stop going crazy looking for the perfect gift."

Another challenge was putting together our initial gift baskets. With gifts, the ideas are endless, as are the themes for our baskets, which made it very difficult to narrow down the product selection. We didn't want to overwhelm ourselves--or the customers--right away. On the other hand, we wanted to be sure that customers could purchase the best gift possible. So we came up with a section that allows customers to customize our existing baskets based on gender and age, or we can create something entirely tailored to their specific request.

Shipping is also a bit of a challenge because the baskets need to be packaged properly and come out of the box looking presentable. We're working on perfecting that process so all orders arrive safely and intact.

Marketing
We're getting the word out through viral and social marketing. We're posting on Facebook, on websites and blogs, sending out mass mailers to friends and families, and passing out fliers in lobbies, elevators, gyms and laundry rooms. We're going to host a holiday fair for residents in our community, and we're taking a kiosk at a shopping mall.

The holiday fair was our idea to get out to the people who live in our building and in our immediate community. If you have a good product, viral and word of mouth are a great way to launch a successful business. We figured if we focus on our building--which has hundreds of potential customers--those folks will tell their friends and neighbors, and so on. It will take place in our residents' lounge. We went ahead and contacted a couple of other vendors that we know so we can pool our resources and get more people out. At the mall, we'll open a kiosk.

Advice
We've learned a lot in our short time in business, and here's our advice to others:

• Set deadlines and stick to them, no matter what. For our photo shoot, we gave ourselves a Monday deadline and were still up at 2 a.m. working on the photos even though it was an artificial deadline.
   
• If an idea keeps coming back to you, go with it. We've been talking about this basket company on and off for more than a year and finally decided to give it a go.
   
• When trying to find the perfect name for the company, we learned very quickly that if the name makes you laugh, it will probably make others laugh. And that will help them remember your company and your brand.
   
• It's important to come up with a company idea that's versatile and allows you to reach many target markets. We can make a basket for a 5-year-old girl and an 80-year-old man. There are no limits. And we aren't restricted to just the holiday season because shoppers always need gifts for birthdays, anniversaries and baby showers.
   
• Do something you're good at and something you love. We'd be in big trouble if we didn't love shopping!

Obsessed with finding the perfect gift, Cari DeCoons and Erika London finally turned their love of shopping into ByeByeBasketCase.com after consistently being the go-to people for gift recommendations. They both reside in New York City.