Starting a business

[Justkate]

I'm not sure if I'm putting this post in the correct area but not sure what topic it comes under.

A few months ago I came up with a business idea which I can do from home in my spare time. I did copious ammounts of research on this product - yes it has been done before but I'm making mine unique and abit different from everything else out there. I made my product and sold some on ebay to get a general idea of the response I'd get (exceeded my expectations) and sold some to friends and mothers groups and asked for written feedback, again the interest & response was excellent.

I now have a major market fair coming at the end of October and am solely concentrating on making x ammount of my product for this so not concentrating on selling them elsewhere till this fair is over. As well as making this product I'm also working on getting a website showcasing my product along with business cards/ flyers etc. I shouldv'e had a label/name for the product from word go but I thought I'd sell a few and that would be it so didn't even think of thinking of a business name and plus I've never done anything like this before so am just learning as I go and I think not having a label on the product from word go was my first big mistake and even though I know I will make more, want to limit the risk of making big ones.

Two questions which may seem unintelligent and naive...but what the heck I hope people here will be willing to help me. Any thoughts on what makes a good business name which will also be my domain name? Any suggestions on what constitutes for a website to be good? Any suggestions and advice on the whole starting a business from scratch would be great and more than welcome.

Thankyou

Kate

 

[yadreamin]

Goodonya justkate
if you are only selling the one type of or one item in this business then l think your business name should reflect your product or be your product.
ie.. work clobber. l would know by the name that this business sells work wear.
cheers yadreamin

 

[sailor]

Congratulations justkate....sounds like an exciting and rewarding business for you. With regard to websites, I'd keep it simple and uncomplicated, so that it loads faster. We all hate waiting for websites to load. Try searching "best web site" on Google and see those who have won awards in the past.

cheers
Sharon

 

[Merovingian]

...I'm also working on getting a website showcasing my product along with business cards/ flyers etc.

With regards to a domain name, it should closely reflect the name of the business, and it should be easy to say to someone. You'll want to say something like, "blah blah blah dot com", and the listener should know immediately how to type it in and go there. Avoid, at all costs, situations where you would have to explain, "there's a dash after the 'y' and before the 's'".

Hope that helps!

Good luck with it all!

 

[rj]

Anything web related I can help with. As most here already know Ive been running online businesses now for almost 5 years.

I could make plenty of suggestions but I am in a bit of a hurry this morning so firstly...

Keep your domain name short, easy to spell and easy to remember. Avoid using lengthy domain names. DONT use hyphens, or numbers or any of that. Keep it simple. Every time you tell someone your domain name you dont want to have to repeat yourself or be in a position of constantly having to spell it out. Trust me, it will do your head in.

Ill be back on later to add more to this.

RJ

 

[Justkate]

Thankyou for the encouragement...I wonder if anyone else who has started a business feels overwhelmed at times as I do at this point. I'm a 'list' person so I've broken what I need to do before this market fair into point form.

First is registering a business name. Second is getting a domain name. Third is getting my website up and going and somehow getting it on the first page when someone does a search. Then its the flyers/ business cards advertising my product etc. If the response is good from this fair I then intend to put an ad in the Herald Sun home section as well as the local paper & mothers/ baby magazines and doing letter box drops etc.

Johnny ANY advice/ help you can offer me would be welcome with open arms. I have had a look at your Friends Reunited website and you've done a great job of it.

Any other advice would be more than welcome as well. Its daunting but am sooooo determined!

Thankyou

Kate

 

[GreatPig]

Kate,

Read Michael Gerber's "The E-Myth" or "The E-Myth Revisited" at some stage. A great book on progressing a small business.

And keep an eye on your cashflow. That's where a lot of new businesses come unstuck.

GP

 

[Merovingian]

Kate,

Read Michael Gerber's "The E-Myth" or "The E-Myth Revisited" at some stage. A great book on progressing a small business.

And keep an eye on your cashflow. That's where a lot of new businesses come unstuck.

GP

Excellent suggestion, GP.

I have read both books and found them very well written, easy to follow, and it made sense. Definitely grab these books.

I lent one of them to a friend recently, don't know if she's read it yet, but I hope she does — it's fantastic.

 

[rj]

Ive been thinking on and off about this post today Kate.

Please dont take this the wrong way but with the direction I think youre wanting to head - you need to be aware of a few things. Time and time again I over hear people saying "I want to start an ecommerce online business and was quoted $10,000 - bugger that, Ill get my cousins 15 year old son to build the site for me".

You know where youll end up?

Banging your head agains the wall, becoming frustrated, wasting money, wasting time, and most likely in the end giving up.

What you need to understand when it comes to online businesses in particular is that its not just overnight point and click success. Its not just a matter of having a friend of a friends cousins brothers 12 year old son make some web pages on the weekend for $100. Its not just a matter of putting some words here on the page, some images, some text, and a few links.

There is so much more to it, if youre wanting to do it properly, but im not going to elaborate on it here, or Ill this post wont ever finish!

What you need to do is take your requirements to someone that has the skills, experience and knowledge to put together a PROFESSIONAL, stylish, functional, and comprehensive package that will provide a secure, easy and useful site together that will provide a level of service to your customers that will have them coming back time and time again.

If you know nothing about web development, e-commerce, FTP, image optimisation, search engine optimisation, SERPS, databases, content management, sql, php, asp, .net or any other web based languages you basically have two options.

Go with a premade package off the net, customise it and pray that it works the way you want it to. Sure it might work, it might be easy, but at some point you will need assistance. Then again, its probably much cheaper and wont take too much time. The downside of this is that you will be stuck with software that you wont have the skill set to support. What do you do then? What do you do if you need changes, modifications or the site falls over or worse - has vulnerabilities that allow malicious users access to secured pages. You simply MUST consider these things - ESPECIALLY if you consider accepting online orders and real time credit card transactions.

The other option is to put it in the hands of a professional. Without knowing too much about what you need I would suggest getting as many quotes as you can. E-commerce stores can be a lot of work depending upon your requirements. You said that youre a list person. Write a defined list of what you need. Put down the logic. The way you see the site working. Take down some notations of other sites you like or would like to perhaps use as a guide or template.

Theres more that I could add here but this is probably enough to begin with.

If you want to do this right and for it to become profitable - spend the time and do your research. If it means having to spend money then do it. At least you know it will be done right.

A few things to consider anyway...

Good luck.

RJ

 

[ozi]

Hi Kate,

First is registering a business name. Second is getting a domain name. Third is getting my website up and going and somehow getting it on the first page when someone does a search. Then its the flyers/ business cards advertising my product etc. If the response is good from this fair I then intend to put an ad in the Herald Sun home section as well as the local paper & mothers/ baby magazines and doing letter box drops etc.

One of the very first things you should do is look into Intellectual Property (IP), i.e. patents, trademarks, etc... Only you can decide whether you think your product/service needs this protection, but it may be worth getting some advice first from an IP attorney. If you believe your product, service, business name, catch-phrase or whatever is truely unique, its pays to protect it so others don't rip you off. Its also good to check your not infringing anyone elses IP.

Good luck with it all!

Regards,
Ozi

 

[duncan_m]

Two questions which may seem unintelligent and naive...but what the heck I hope people here will be willing to help me. Any thoughts on what makes a good business name which will also be my domain name? Any suggestions on what constitutes for a website to be good? Any suggestions and advice on the whole starting a business from scratch would be great and more than welcome

JK, seek out those people who have actually made a significant PROFIT from an online business.. He hasnt posted for a long time but PaulZag would be a great place to start.. email him perhaps.

 

[Aceyducey]

Kate,

I've been building businesses nigh on 15 years now (web-related ones for about 10). (Actually more like 25 years but I discount the ones I set-up at school - car washing, babysitting & line-writing).

From all my years of experience with businesses I've learnt that the time you spend planning out your strategy at the start of the process is repaid to you 100x over later in the process.

It's best not to start by thinking about the business name, domain name or website.

Start by thinking about your business goals, your products and your (potential) customers.

What do you want to achieve with the business?
What type of products/services are you offering (and who do they appeal to)?
What are the customer segments and how are they best targeted?
What's you exit strategy?

In a lot of respects this can come directly from your business plan, together with aspects of your marketing plan.

Once you know who you're targeting, how to target them and why they'd want to buy your products/services you can work on an appropriate business name and IF NECESSARY an appropriate website (with the features your customers will want to see).

I've found this approach works well in all the segments I've established businesses in. Retail, professional services, training, content, property and resources (some online, some not - the internet is simply a channel to market and not always the best one).

All the best with your new business!

Cheers,

Aceyducey

 

[Ricardo29]

i agree with acey...the name tends to come toward the end...
too much other important stuff to do first.
names are in essence, meaningless.
what is a google? nothing...what is a yahoo? nothing...they dont mean anything. its not the name that makes them the success....sure, they have acheived standalone branding, but thats due to company success, not the name. ideally, thats the perfect scenario....where your name IS the product or service.
want a cola flavoured soft drink....have a coke.
think tissues, here's a kleenex.
think of vacuuming, some might say to hoover it.
think of putting a bit of tape on your cut finger...why not a bandaid.
now that aint easy to do....so most startups would surely be smarter going with something that represents what they are. its smart, makes sense, tells people straight away what they are. unless you got zillions to market, brand, and promote, this is likely to be the best option. tailored toward the market, simple, and efficient in its use. good luck.

 

[geoffw]

I'm with Acey.

I don't have the business experience he has.

But, even having bought a well established business- like Acey said- start with the business first. Domain names etc- that's secondary.

Even if you're going to start a web based business- you've started on ebay. I'd keep on plugging on that to start with. Use that to establish credibility. Perhaps you don't even need to go further than that.

A URL is way down on your list of priorities IMHO. You can start on the web, and succeed well, without that extra stuff.

 

[Justkate]

Thankyou to everyone for replying and their advice its much appreciated. Am off to Borders to buy those books tomorrow night GreatPig should and also slowley getting through Paul Zag's posts Duncan and its addictive reading - thankyou both for that Also started reading Acey's posts from the very beginning and am hooked.

The thing I like about this site is that their is a wealth of archived information from people who specialise in different areas, its great and its free knowledge!!

Thankyou all again, the drift I get from you all is, one step at a time and slow and steady instead of rushing in and trying to do it all NOW, which I think is wise.

Kate

 

[AlmostBob]

We, lady love and I, attended a free seminar from stores on line where they offer training in setting up your store before they offer to sell you the software, If they have a dot com dot au office they may be of assistance. Or they may have a local affiliate or something,
the products seem ok, as much as you can tell from three hours and lunch.

 

[paulzag]

We, lady love and I, attended a free seminar from stores on line where they offer training in setting up your store before they offer to sell you the software, If they have a dot com dot au office they may be of assistance. Or they may have a local affiliate or something,
the products seem ok, as much as you can tell from three hours and lunch.

Sorry for such a long absence... Life happens

My mum dragged me to a stores online breakfast, which I found to be a hard sell for their one-day follow up. The followup is cheap but...

For the breakfast/lunch 3 hours they promised to show you how to get started online. But none of the info was immediately useful, it just helped sow doubt in the minds of the newbies.

The one day follow up was another hard sell for their services. If you just wanted the information it was very general and no Q&A.

My mum and her friend didn't want to go with them so they didn't get a lot out of it.

 

[lizzie]

a couple of suggetions off the top of my head - it's late at night (for me) and i've been painting for days on end, so someone else might have to fill in the blanks.

for support i would suggest you find a local "business woman's" organisation for support and networking. also talk to your local business chamber (hunter business chamber in newcastle, but i'm sure they have something similar near you). both organise free seminars/meetings on starting up businesses, tax implications, marketing your product, support networks etc etc.

the state government also runs something similar (and i can't recall what it's called) where they give you online and over the phone advice and support in all areas of small business. perhaps someone can point you in the right directions for their name.

you may even qualify for a small grant to get your business running.

 

[geoffw]

Sorry for such a long absence... Life happens

Hey Paul, welcome back.

For newbies, Paul HAS been around for a long time. Just not for a few years.

And he's seen the lows, as well as the highs, of property investment.

What he's been through is REALLY worth lokking at.

 

[lizzie]

kate (and i'd remove the "just" if i were you - you're way more than a just kate!! )

i received this by email this morning, and this is the sort of thing i was thinking of for youself:


Hi Everyone



We are once again holding Home Base Business workshops and networking events. Attached you will find the Home Base business calendar as well as an invite to our first Networking seminar on the 6th March 2007 at the Glades Function Centre – Warners Bay starting at 6pm .



To register please phone Jane on 4921 0335, or email [email protected] .



Hope to see you there.





Kind Regards



Jo



Small Business Field Officer

Hunter Area Consultative Committee

99 Selwyn Street

PO Box 326

MAYFIELD NSW 2304



PH: 61 2 49 612 603

Mobile : 0414 657 220



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