Hi,
I saw your question and thought i'd share since i too have been trying
to create a successful small business via the internet, I
thought i'd share some of my happenings with you maybe they will help.
There is a lot to do in starting your business up, so
you will need a lot of energy to get it started, but once it is in
place -- it is done! It may feel a little overwhelming for a bit, i
know I have felt overwhelmed at times, but persevering is the answer
to making it work. It is a lot of leg work in the beginning
so you need to know that and just be prepared for it, starting one up
in the spring may be better than say right before the
holidays, when you may be someone who has a family and is preparing
all the holidays etc., make sure you plan the right time
to get started -- it helps to have the time and energy and some
support. It also depends upon your item too and when it will sell,
if it is seasonal. In starting a small business you will have to go
through some stages of planning, investigating and preparing
so that your business will run cost efficiently, effectively and
successfully; you will also need to consider how your lifestyle
will revolve with the business and plan for that.
Deciding Upon What You Will Sell and Your Target Market Audience
The first stage is targeting and planning, first you will have to
decide upon what you will choose to sell. Some of the things i
have tried to keep in mind when looking into a small business is -- is
this something that people need or that people want -- if it
is only a want then if the economy goes a bit sour, my business may
too since people will cut out all "extras" in order to get by,
so I thought basing a business on people's needs would fare better. I
also noticed that people are more willing to spend on
things for their children vs. spending on things for themselves, of
course, we all want to give the best to our children in hope
that they can have a better life. How much of the population or what
part of the population would be interested in my items?
You can go to the library and find information -- ask at the
information desk what current books to look in, how much of the
current population is really into the "new age" belief systems?
Mainly your idea would appeal to women maybe some teenage
girls with new-age belief systems, although the candle aspect you
could branch out further with that to other target markets, they
appeal to the larger population of women since they are a popular
decorating item at this point in time (if they go out of style
you may need to consider what you would replace them with). Another
thing to take into consideration -- how much
competition is there w/other businesses doing what I'm doing and if
there are a lot, what can I do to differentiate my products so
that other would want them over the competitors? Would I be able to
differentiate by having a cheaper price -- or more
expensive unique items -- if so the way i differentiate my items would
make them appeal to a different target market and you
would need to prepare yourself to market them that way. For example
if your candles would be great quality for a better price
and you could write down 4 reason why they are better and present that
to people, what market would that appeal to -- I would
imagine that the middle class who are trying to save some money but
still like to decorate would be interested vs. if you have a
very uniquely artistically designed, created candle that is more
expensive (you will need to have your 4 or more reasons why
these are more unique in order to show others what they are getting
and convince them of the validity of that). For me if i don't
have any passion or values in the things i am working with -- I tend
to fizzle out. I decided awhile back to start my own internet
coupon clipping service. I had been really getting into saving money
by using a coupon service and wanted to also have a
service of my own. Now I have started up selling wholesale items.
Will You Need To Take Out Business Loan?
This is something you will need to consider and investigate what
banking institute has the best program/rates etc.
Working Out All of The Details
Once you decide upon what you will sell and what your target market
will be you need to go onto the next stage investigating
all of the details about how you will make that happen -- where will
you get your merchandise from -- who has the best price
and best quality (you need to know what makes the best quality etc.),
what company will you use for shipping your items,
which has the lowest rates, how/where will you set up your workspace,
how will your daily activities work in order to make all
that you need to do flow together , what days of the month will you
need to have it delivered and unpacked, inventoried so that
you will have a constant supply. This stage requires a lot of
thinking -- thinking and planning and investigating every aspect of
what you need to do in order to do it the cheapest w/best quality and
most efficient way. Get a notebook, write down every
single aspect of what you would need to have to make your business
run, first think of the aspects of the merchandise, a place
to store your merchandise, shipping it to your customers; I try to
look at it like fun, like a puzzle, i must think about every faucet
of how things will work and find the best price and most efficient way
to make it happen. The internet is a great tool for
researching a lot of these things.
Setting up Your Business Legally/Your Business Banking/Setting Up
Payment System for Customers
After you plan for each of the faucets of your business you will have
to: go to your county clerks office and register your
business name and there usually is a small fee, locate the IRS online
and decide if you will have your business set up as a sole
proprietor or corporation etc. and register with them (if you set your
business up as a corporation it protects you personal
finances and possessions in case you are ever sued etc., none of your
personal assets can be touched), it depends upon what
type of business you have the second business i just started, and the
first one i had, there was no need since there would be no
reason for me to be sued for the types of items i was selling there
could be no personal damage done. If you do set yourself up
as a corporation you will need to go to a lawyer to set it up, but
please know how important this is for some businesses, I had a
relative that did not do this and wound up losing their home when
their business went down the drain and they had a lot of
business debt and were not set up as a corporation, they had to sell
their home to pay off the debt, if they had set themselves up
as a corporation that would not have happened! You may need to have a
consultation with a lawyer just to find out -- if i sell
someone a candle and their house burns down because they didn't blow
it out, can they sue me, you need to know depending
upon your merchandise what you could be held liable for. Then if what
your selling is taxable you have to find out in your
state where you need to register with the taxation office and prepare
to pay quarterly taxes. You can set up a business checking
account -- usually most banks will let you set up what is called "a
doing business as account" that works the same as a personal
account but w/your business name and you don't have to pay for
"business check" just get the cheapest personal check sizes
available. I also set up a paypal account with my doing business as
checking account attached to it so that people can pay me
this way and i can put that money into my checking acct. that way,
alto you may need to look into how you will handle people
using their credit cards for payment -- what is the easiest way --
your bank may be able to help you with that. I don't know
much about that myself since I have not had to do that -- yet! LOL
Get Busy
Now you need to set up accounts and put all of the details of your
above investigation into effect. Set up everything you
investigated about your business so that it would be able to run
smoothly.
Creating Your Website
Luckily dh and I both have art backgrounds. We bought software to
create the website and I did it myself with his supervision,
it was not that hard. You may be able to create it yourself! Go to a
good computer store ask the salesperson about software to
create your own website if you feel comfortable with it. If not,
think about contacting the local county college -- their
Marketing Art and Design Department. You may be able to hire someone
that is in school studying web-design that can do it
for you at a lower cost, ask to speak to the professor and ask that
they give this to their best student. Before you hand it over to
someone though -- you will need planning
in order to make this run right. What will be on your opening page
and pages that are opened secondly? Will you have a
"cart" system where people choose what they want and it goes into a
cart -- that does very well. You also have to make sure that
the look of your website will appeal to your target market - VERY
IMPORTANT -- don't forget your web page is creating a
climate -- one that is like a flower that should be attracting the
bee. You can buy clip art either off the internet which is a good
idea since you usually get to look at it before purchasing. We had
bought some clip art in the computer store and found some
website where they had free clip art, but make sure you read the fine
print, there are places that will no allow you to use it if it is
for business purposes and places that will not.
You need to make sure that people will be drawn in -- to look into
your site. There are visual techniques that do this, make sure
you talk about this with whoever you hire and look at it closely and
see if you can see it yourself if they are creating it.
Make sure your site is super easy for people to use and to pay
otherwise they won't be bothered.
Your Advertising Plan
Your advertising will be one of the biggest factors that will
determine whether or not you are successful. You need to have an
advertising plan. How will you reach your target market? Where will
you advertise? Will you make up ads -- where will you
put them? What is your advertising budget? How much of your income
will you set aside for branching out with your
advertising? What is the bottom line of advertising you need to do to
get started vs. what you can branch out and do later on to
increase your clientele? How will you encourage repeat customers?
Also there are internet companies that can help you get
your site into the search engines for a fee and your site will come up
close to the top 10 when searched. One that I liked was
Verio. They will also get you a url too -- it is all for a fee.
Also you need to have "company identity" -- keep this in mind when you
design your stationary, internet website and
advertising, make up a logo w/your company name and use this
throughout so you are "identified" by it. I've seen people use
different logos and typefaces for each different form of advertising
and that is a big no-no. Keep one look and use it though
out all of your advertising, stationary and your website. Make sure
your look is stylishly up-to-date and appropriate for what
you are doing. It gives the feeling of "unstability" when changing the
look so much. People will get to know you by your logo.
Getting Close To Opening
Once you have done all of the above, and you know that you know --
that your business is in running order, everything is set to
go, make sure you test it all -- don't test any of it on the
customers!! You may need to fine tune certain areas, that is where I
am
at now myself. My coupon service I had to close down -- it was growing
but due to legalities that forced me to limit the supply
to customers I lost clients. I had to close it, but I have started
another business selling wholesale items at flea markets etc. I am
fine tuning now, items i thought would sell -- have not, I have to
look more closely at what people are buying at the flea market
and take a loss financially and go on. Order some stock, not a lot
since you'll need to gauge yourself and figure it out, if you
order a lot of stock and it doesn't sell you may get stuck with it.
This time period is hard since you won't have a lot of stock to
protect yourself financially but you need to have some to keep going.
Once your business is open you can gauge what sells
when etc. and gauge your purchasing merchandise, this is very
important too.
Oh well, this has been a very long answer, but just thought I would
share some of what I have done in order to try to work from
home. Good luck to you and I hope you find a great way to have a
small business! : ) |
