Take your first step toward a career as a gift basket designer! This course will tell you everything you need to know about starting a gift basket business and running it successfully.  

First, you’ll learn how to make gift baskets that stand out from everyone else’s. You’ll discover where to find foods, products, and supplies to make your baskets, and you’ll find out how to set up your own design studio. In addition, you’ll explore the requirements and guidelines for running a home-based business. You’ll also get the inside story on finding customers and marketing your gift baskets online and offline.  

Next, you'll learn how to maximize your profits by pricing your gift baskets correctly. You’ll also see how to collect payments involving cash, checks, and credit cards. After that, you’ll investigate cost-effective ways to ship and deliver the gorgeous gift baskets you create. 

And of course, you’ll want a Web site—so this course will teach you how to create an attractive, professional-looking site that entices customers to buy your baskets. In addition, you’ll find out the sales secrets that most long-time designers won't reveal, such as standalone gift sales and drop shipping. Finally, and best of all, you'll follow step-by-step instructions to make your very first professionally-styled gift basket!

By the end of this course, you’ll be ready to start your own business as a gift basket designer—and you’ll have the confidence you need to excel in this fun and profitable career.

A new section of each course starts monthly. If enrolling in a series of two or more courses, please be sure to space the start date for each course at least two months apart.

All courses run for six weeks, with a two-week grace period at the end. Two lessons are released each week for the six-week duration of the course. You do not have to be present when lessons are released. You will have access to all lessons until the course ends. However, the interactive discussion area that accompanies each lesson will automatically close two weeks after the lesson is released. As such, we strongly recommend that you complete each lesson within two weeks of its release.

The final exam will be released on the same day as the last lesson. Once the final exam has been released, you will have two weeks to complete all of your course work, including the final exam.

Internet access, e-mail, the Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox Web browser, and the Adobe Flash and PDF plug-ins (two free and simple downloads you obtain at http://www.adobe.com/downloads  by clicking Get Adobe Flash Player and Get Adobe Reader).

This course includes a knowledgeable and caring instructor who will guide you through your lessons, facilitate discussions, and answer your questions. The instructor for this course will be Shirley George Frazier.

Shirley George Frazier is one of the world’s leading authorities on the gift basket industry. In business since 1990, Shirley is the founder of GiftBasketBusiness.com and the author of the industry’s best-selling books, How to Start a Home-Based Gift Basket Business and The Gift Basket Design Book. Shirley’s mission is to provide business and marketing support to home-based entrepreneurs, specialty store owners, and related professionals worldwide through in-person training, live seminar conferences, and articles written for consumer and business publications. Her clients include Macy's, Barnes & Noble, Total Wine, and Hallmark stores.

“ I really enjoyed this course. It offered me a lot of information about going into business and the many things a person should do and consider. The course was fun, and a great learning experience. I liked making a basket and having feed back on the project. The marketing and advertising were interesting as well as making your own web page. I think the course covered a lot of ground for a person who wants to go into this type of business. I hope to do this when I retire. ”

“ It was a great course. I truly appreciated the examples for pricing, marketing and the sample lists. They were so helpful. ”

“ The information provided by the instructor was timely, clear and plentiful. Resources were some of the best in achieving the tools for a successful business from legal documents, tax filings, purchasing supplies and materials, advertising, shipping and securing payments for the product sold. The instructor has a light hearted but direct manner of teaching. I truly enjoyed this course. The combination of my talent and the course material is a winner. ”

“ I enjoyed this course very much and have gained important information that will help me set-up my business to be a success. ”

“ This was an excellent and informative course. The instructor was extremely knowledgeable and passionate about her business. She passed along her wealth of information to her students while going the extra mile to encourage her students. ”

“ I really enjoyed the course! I was supplied with beneficial material to learn from and the professor was great. ”

“ I found this course to be very interesting, informative and enjoyable. It was easy to follow along and I was surprised as to how well I did creating gift baskets! I am blind and I understood all the instructions to make a gift basket and I am excited to continue with this as a hobby for now. Thanks so much for offering this course. ”

“ Was very glad to take this course. It is invaluable for a newcomer as well as others who have been in business before. Thanks. ”

“ I would like to thank Ms. Frazier for teaching this course via ed2go. I have wanted to take one of her classes for several years but I was never able to get to the physical location because of the distance from my home. This course was all I hoped for and more. I feel extremely prepared to begin my own gift basket business. The lessons, resources, discussions and quizzes will serve as a manual for me to refer to for years to come. Thank you again! ”

“ Shirley was an excellent instructor. She was very supportive, asked questions, and provided the information and mentoring necessary to start a gift basket business. I hope you will sponsor more classes with her as the instructor. She is a great asset! ”