Business/website startup questions

TwinsMommy

Sun, Nov 11 2012, 8:17 pm

whoopsie I got ahead of myself, we posted at the same time.

this business already exists but doesn't yet have the web presence. ok..... so then it already HAS a business plan and knowledge of exactly how much profit to expect per month, no? there's some fluctuation but in most businesses you can estimate within a reasonable range.

As far as creating (re-creating?) a biz plan, I recommend a business coach--- Donna Amos was mine for a while and has great private and group coaching. Pm me for her info if you're interested. She's not free but worth it.

seeker

Sun, Nov 11 2012, 8:24 pm

Well, the biz is already started offline, and it's growing kinda slowly. We're about breaking even at this point. Startup costs weren't much, we started with a little inventory and built up as it sold out, and the more expensive products are custom-ordered so we don't need that inventory until it's already spoken for. So it was just a bit of supplies and equipment, and there aren't so many places to advertise locally so that didn't cost much either. So as of now we're pretty much even and hope to start turning a profit. But there's not that much traffic in our area and we're hoping to reach a much larger audience by going online. Also our area has a bit of competition whereas there is very little competition online, and what there is doesn't seem to have much presence (I never knew about it until I seriously searched), so hopefully we can succeed better than they did in getting our name and product out there.

So basically, business is doing OK but I really have NO idea how much better it could be once we get online. Is it going to bring in a couple of new customers a month? Tens? Hundreds? A couple the first few months, and then an explosion if we keep at it long and hard enough? We are only relevant to Jewish customers, and particularly frum ones (not that we discriminate, but I imagine that's who will be most interested).

Also, in addition to the web domain and hosting fees, there would also need to be advertising to get people to the website. Word-of-mouth is not going to take us as far as we want to go, and our product is not the type that will go viral from a few facebook contests or blog giveways. Different type of audience needed. We will probably need both print and web advertising to make this work. So it's not just $15/month, it's more like xxx/month to make the $15 work.

Oh, and don't let the fact that we already have a business make you assume that we have a business plan. No, we are the kind of fools who said "let's try something and see if it works." The initial investment wasn't much, and our first few clients were custom orders who were willing to wait for special service so we actually started with no inventory and only built up a stock once we realized that the custom orders kept coming and we could probably do better if we could sell on the spot, too. The extent of my plan was "let's write everything down so we can figure out whether we're making money." So we absolutely are ready for a plan...

TwinsMommy

Sun, Nov 11 2012, 8:41 pm

in that case, if I were you, I'd probably have a solid biz plan in place first, be able to have a projected monthly profit, and THEN worry about a web presence. What is it that you're selling, anyway? (we might want to buy, you never know! Smile

seeker

Sun, Nov 11 2012, 8:56 pm

But how can you project profit for something that hasn't been done yet? Suppose my markup is $10 per item sold, and suppose I've even figured out that the average order is 3 items, I still don't know how many people my site will succeed in reaching and how many of those people will order from me. How can I possibly project that? Especially since I can't compare to an existing competitor because my niche is too new.

TwinsMommy

Sun, Nov 11 2012, 9:12 pm

That's one of the things Donna or another biz coach can help you with--- the math of without knowing where the orders are coming from, knowing how many orders covers expenses plus profit

Projection is part of the biz plan. Of course you need to project!

You can use a sales forecast spreadsheet to prepare a month‐by‐month projection. You can based
on your historical sales, the marketing strategies in your biz plan,
your market research, and industry data.

experts suggest two forecasts: 1) a ʺbest guessʺ, which is what you really expect,
and 2) a ʺworst caseʺ low estimate that you are confident you can reach no matter what
happens.

THEN once you have reasonable forecasts and marketing strategies set in stone, work towards the goals.

seeker

Sun, Nov 11 2012, 9:31 pm

I don't get how a business coach can foresee how many people would be interested in a product that didn't really exist until now... but ok... I wonder if there is a chessed organization for business coaching. I would do it and consider it a business investment if we really needed to, but we are running empty enough to qualify for chessed if anyone's offering...

sunspot

Sun, Nov 11 2012, 9:43 pm

I think you would really gain from the fastrac program developed through the kaufman institute. they offer it here in Brooklyn through the hebrew free loan society. it really guides and helps you through working out the process.

seeker

Sun, Nov 11 2012, 9:58 pm

webdesignermom wrote:

Thanks! Details please? What is this or where can I find out more about it?

sunspot

Sun, Nov 11 2012, 10:58 pm

here is a link to the program