Thank you for the clarification. I will accept that as an invitation
to answer your question with the caveats I mentioned.
The main problem with the comment (just as an example) which I see,is that it
focuses on the means (how to build a website) rather than on goals.
To establish a business, particularly an on-line business, you need
to do two things:
1) Identify a need (find something which people need, and are not getting,
or which you can provide better, cheaper, ...
Building a website may be one of the means, once you have selected the goal
and only THEN you decide to learn PHP, or hire someone to do it
ot use something like Ebay shop ..
This, to identify the need, is the market analysis part of
business plan preparation.
2) Identify what YOU like doing, and what you do or can do well -
the self-realization part
This second part, is well discussed in the book
"Do what you love, the money will follow"
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0440501601/104-9148175-2368758?v=glance
There are actually two books by Marsha:
[
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=books&field-author-exact=Marsha%20Sinetar&rank=-relevance%2C%2Bavailability%2C-daterank/104-9148175-2368758
] and I suggest you read both.
The first understated 1) and assumed you 'Love to serve other people'
and are able to do it.
The second is balancing the two imperatives 1) and 2).
BTW: We do put VERY LONG URLs into [ brackets] since they often get
broken by line breaks.
Brackets [ ] mean: paste all between [] but not brackets themself
into the location bar. OK?
To run a business means 'to devote a big part of you life, thoughts,
energy .. to it'
(Not all of your life, please).
If you just want income, rather than occupation, do not buy a website.
Rather, buy some CDs (certificates of deposit) or income stocks.
http://www.fdic.gov/deposit/deposits/certificate/
http://www.smartmoney.com/magportfolios/stocks/index.cfm?story=stock-newincome2001
To operate a website which generates an income, you need to decide who
will pay and why:
Example :
Right now the big three (ebay, amazon, google) are neglecting Eastern
Europe (what Rumsfeld calls New Europe)
meaning:
It is hard for a person in CR, Poland, .. to buy stuff on eBay as half
the listings ship 'to US only'
or on Amazon.uk (which is extremely uptight and pricey about shipping
to EE; They ship to HongKong for less)
You can serve those people in the C.R. or EE, by establishing a proxy
service, which will collect funds the CR way (bank transfer)
and order (and perhaps check) the stuff in the US (or UK) and ship
economically to CR and other EE countries.
You would need a partner in US, UK ... but if you have some
high-school buddies .. it may be possible.
Or,
you can serve the outside marke using CR resources: offering call
center services, programming services,
or some physical products to the global market.
Examples of what not to do.
'Bohemian glass' exports are 'an obvious' and many people have tried
and lost money on it.
It looks like people who buy glass do not buy on-line. It's also
costly to pack and ship
and insure, etc. such a fragile product, especially to individual buyers.
Make a search and you will see many websites located in US which try
to sell Bohemian Glass:
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Bohemian+Glass&btnG=Google+Search
So you need to move beyond the obvious and do some market research and
offer what is not well offered.
Examples of quality products that are not well-represented abroad:
Furniture. Look for good new designers
One award-winning designer/firm which still has a very small
footprint even in Prague:
http://www.polstrin.cz/
One crystal firm has high quality but is struggling to market in the U.S.
Many of their products are similar to Swarovski
http://www.preciosa.com/preciosa/cz/
If you are good at marketing, this would be the big time.
Or, team up with a designer/manufacturer and design a product of your
own using Czech talent.
e.g. the Czech Republic produces very few beautiful glass table
lamps. Venice, in contrast,
produces some fantastic lamps known worldwide.
Interview graduates of the glass/crystal trade schools, pick several who would
want to have a business with you. Produce some, network with a
local shop to sell
them at first, then broaden the market. Or follow the Artel model:
Karen Feldman did something like this, starting her own firm her
producing her own
glassware patterns. She started marekting abroad in very high end
shops before she sold
in Prague, I believe -- building a very exclusive reputation.
http://www.artelglass.com/
As a native English speaker who can communicate with the 'locals' you
have a jump on competition.
Marketing (particularly for EE products) is an issue of trust and image building.
If done well, it can work.
Good luck
Hedgie |
