Start up Dilemma.. Now What?
Discussion
So guys I have recently been made unemployed so decided to launch a business and create myself a job not knowing I would be offered a position as a bus driver starting in about 2 weeks time.
Now I have launched my Site and called potential clients and generally had some decent responses. I may make my first sale on Friday to a bridal store, BUT the service I am offering is Social Media Management. What I do is take control of the businesses Social media advertising Facebook/Twitter business pages etc and free time for the business owner to focus on other parts of the business. Now me and the client would be constantly connected with them updating me about any special offers etc that they want to be promoted through there business page.
Social media is becoming one of the largest advertising spaces for businesses world wide and alot of people are making the most out of this but it can be very time consuming.
As a business I will be charging £60 a month so £2 per day for this service but considering I am due to start work in a little under 2 weeks time, there is no way I could drive a bus AND constantly update businesses social media pages. Now bearing in mind this business was just an idea and started less than 24hours ago plus it cost's me peanuts to start, Is it time to scrap this idea and leave it alone? Money is tight right now so I cant afford to just take a chance and not take it, and this isnt something to be done part time with all the updating of business pages/ contact with clients and calling around for extra clients.
What do you guys think? my website is smmediamarketing. co. uk
Now I have launched my Site and called potential clients and generally had some decent responses. I may make my first sale on Friday to a bridal store, BUT the service I am offering is Social Media Management. What I do is take control of the businesses Social media advertising Facebook/Twitter business pages etc and free time for the business owner to focus on other parts of the business. Now me and the client would be constantly connected with them updating me about any special offers etc that they want to be promoted through there business page.
Social media is becoming one of the largest advertising spaces for businesses world wide and alot of people are making the most out of this but it can be very time consuming.
As a business I will be charging £60 a month so £2 per day for this service but considering I am due to start work in a little under 2 weeks time, there is no way I could drive a bus AND constantly update businesses social media pages. Now bearing in mind this business was just an idea and started less than 24hours ago plus it cost's me peanuts to start, Is it time to scrap this idea and leave it alone? Money is tight right now so I cant afford to just take a chance and not take it, and this isnt something to be done part time with all the updating of business pages/ contact with clients and calling around for extra clients.
What do you guys think? my website is smmediamarketing. co. uk
hmm okay, after looking at the buffer site for a business account with up to 150 accounts will cost $250 p/month something just makes me feel quite uneasy about selling something for a fee when they can get it for free. I wasnt aware this was available until now and was charging for my time behind the computer screen. Time to rethink this idea I guess it could be quite a decent money maker but something seems morally wrong selling something when its available free.....
Thank you for your reply, well I launched less than 24hours ago and have just phoned around a few businesses today, hopefully have my first sale Friday sent alot of information to a bridal store today she is discussing with partner. 50 clients a month will give me £3000 per month not taking into account outgoings but this will be enough to cover my business running costs and my personal bills. Regarding the 100 clients, no 2 hours is really not enough so I would probably look at employing 1 maybe 2 members of staff and upping the rates slightly hopefully if the business can grow this large this will bring in £9000 a month assuming I upped the rates by just £1 per day. Its just getting it across to potential clients just how important social media can be in certain industries now. Also Im going to try and bring in a decent amount of clients over these next 2 weeks it will be hard gaining new clients once working full time on the buses and keeping up to date on my clients business pages. Hopefully the hardwork will pay off 
In response to Lee,
Dont worry about "having a go" haha i dont mind. Talking about "expert" knowledge etc I have worked building pages on Facebook and Twitter before privately but never as paid work, recently I made a Twitter business page for a experiment to test my range of skills for myself. I built the page up and amassed just under 400 follower in 2days. Now i know that is in no way an astronomical numbers but in 2 days gaining that many organic followers had me thinking I may be on to something. I am constantly researching and learning about social media marketing and it is something that excites me. I am no way claiming to be the best in the world in this field hence the low fee's and no contract to make them continue paying me if they are unhappy with the service in anyway. I am not claiming to be an expert I am offering to help, guide and ultimately a business through social media for a small fee.
Dont worry about "having a go" haha i dont mind. Talking about "expert" knowledge etc I have worked building pages on Facebook and Twitter before privately but never as paid work, recently I made a Twitter business page for a experiment to test my range of skills for myself. I built the page up and amassed just under 400 follower in 2days. Now i know that is in no way an astronomical numbers but in 2 days gaining that many organic followers had me thinking I may be on to something. I am constantly researching and learning about social media marketing and it is something that excites me. I am no way claiming to be the best in the world in this field hence the low fee's and no contract to make them continue paying me if they are unhappy with the service in anyway. I am not claiming to be an expert I am offering to help, guide and ultimately a business through social media for a small fee.
Regarding the price structure yes I do discuss this fee with the business's, the reason the price is low is because im a new start up I need clients to give me the chance. Some are not happy with this but others are willing to. Obviously because this is part time right now I wont take on more work than I can handle if the time comes that the business grows too large for me to just manage I will run the business full time and hire a few members of staff from this field off work.
Okay so I decided £60 per month due to the fact alot of small businesses are strapped for cash lately and to be fair could do with there business pages marketed. Now i know £60 seems a really small fee but for running part time and learning the market I think it fits perfectly. Do you have a rough idea of what a agency would normally charge for a service like this on average? After some searching around im finding anything from really low fee's up into the £1000's. I dont want to charge clients a huge amount especially in the first month of me starting a business and especially whilst im working full time. Obviously once I had a sustainable business model that worked for me I could up the price but regarding taking on extra clients surely the income from the extra clients would provide sufficient funds to hire staff down the line? We are talking IF'S and MIGHTS here but its always good to know what your getting into!
So are we talking major international companies that are paying that? or small businesses such as Bridal Stores, B&B's etc? Surely the amount of time spent on Social Media Marketing for a fee of that amount is too much for alot of the small business'? I know £60 is a small amount but for introducing clients to my services I think I could be on to something with the right planning. Making Social Media Marketing more AVAILABLE to these smaller business' surely that is something they want. Im thinking to charge a flat £60 p/month rate for the first few months of custom then introducing a higher fee to continue work as I build the Business, this would obviously be told to the potential client before any $$$ changed hands. My skills obviously are not good enough at this minute to approach huge companies offering to Market them by myself but a few small business' is manageable whilst learning the business side of things. This will be my first business, I think its just sinking in how hard business really is now! haha
Okay well I will start with the Carpentry business idea. So you have just signed up and paid the £60 fee. First would be to make an attractive looking landing page for the business. This will be the first thing your customers will see it will have to grab there attention otherwise they are not staying never mind buying from you. Next would be to find your target audience on the range on SM platforms available and target them accordingly. I would go through Facebook analytic twice a week to see how the page is performing and develop accordingly. Every message/promotion etc sent out would be worded correctly to connect with the ( Following ) and new potential customers to encourage connection between customers and your business.
Now regarding the 400 follows it actually did go surprisingly well but the "test business" just wasn't sustainable for the product otherwise I would have run for that! It was Exotic Wood Sunglasses imported from china but once I went through the numbers it would have been extremely hard to turn a profit. Regarding how many would buy out of the just under 400 followers I had 106 people ask me how they could order and when would they be made available, I even had a woman ask could she back order her pair. Rather embarrassing explaining this was a test business page setup for an experiment haha!
Now regarding the 400 follows it actually did go surprisingly well but the "test business" just wasn't sustainable for the product otherwise I would have run for that! It was Exotic Wood Sunglasses imported from china but once I went through the numbers it would have been extremely hard to turn a profit. Regarding how many would buy out of the just under 400 followers I had 106 people ask me how they could order and when would they be made available, I even had a woman ask could she back order her pair. Rather embarrassing explaining this was a test business page setup for an experiment haha!
Regarding the bigger clients I forgot that one!
Right now at my point of starting I am targeting smaller local businesses with a small/ average following currently who are looking to try and build on that. At this point in time I would not approach nor take on a client with such a mass following. It just wouldn't make any sense for either party.
Right now at my point of starting I am targeting smaller local businesses with a small/ average following currently who are looking to try and build on that. At this point in time I would not approach nor take on a client with such a mass following. It just wouldn't make any sense for either party.
Okay so driving a bus will earn me around £16.5k a year before tax, If i had 30 contracts at £60 p/month that would be a turnover of £21k before expenses. I would be working from home so no office rent fee and the rest of expenses are from software etc so reasonably low. I understand buses will be around forever but I also dont want to be working for someone else forever. This is the reason im going to build slowly until I can run my business full time.
Lee thank you for your response, the £60 figure was just a ballpark figure I believed was affordable to alot of small business' whilst gaining me some experience in this industry to create a "portfolio". I wasnt looking for a get rich quick business idea or anything of the sort. I am taking all of your comments into account and seriously thinking about the points you are making and I totally understand the stock example etc but I dont just want to throw in the towel. I understand the valid points regarding experience aswell but by working on small business' and outlining on the get go what they want doing with there SM and what my responsibilities will be regarding these accordingly would this not prove a viable way to gain experience?
Say the Bridal shop wanted to create more brand awareness, me and the client both come to a conclusion on where my responsibility's lie and what I will actually be doing rather than them thinking I should be keeping people up to date with stock etc without it to hand.
You have me thinking now Lee and as much as I dont want to throw the towel in I am determined to become my own boss, I have alot of thinking and planning to do.
P.S I am very jealous of your car! haha
Say the Bridal shop wanted to create more brand awareness, me and the client both come to a conclusion on where my responsibility's lie and what I will actually be doing rather than them thinking I should be keeping people up to date with stock etc without it to hand.
You have me thinking now Lee and as much as I dont want to throw the towel in I am determined to become my own boss, I have alot of thinking and planning to do.
P.S I am very jealous of your car!
hahaThank you so much for that Lee! that has just made everything so clearer, looks like a late night of drawing up and editing for me then. If it is okay with you could I possibly email you in the future should I need any advice on where to take the business?
And I am defiantly taking the buses job but will put everything into building this into something bigger.
Thank you for your help everyone!
And I am defiantly taking the buses job but will put everything into building this into something bigger.
Thank you for your help everyone!
Fewer than 4 packages? If you wouldn't mind me asking how would you structure the packages whilst still reducing the amount? Im still trying to account for the fact that I will be driving a bus full time so cant just pull out my phone at any given moment. I need to make something where by I can set up scheduled times of the day for posting and promoting the clients business.
Yes I have had a look at Hootsuite along with buffer and have totally revised my pricing structure and plan as to how to tackle growing the business into a full time venture in the future. Hootsuite seems like an extremely viable options as I can do alot of my "post" work on the weekends/evenings. Freeing up a little more spare time spent away from work to grow this venture.
Okay so Ive been having a think myself and I do agree with you regarding the £100 min price but... Realistically lets say I have the 6 clients paying me for a basic package of publishing 1 relevant article, page tidy up and basic yet correctly worded posts to target the correct area. The post's I could spend a few hours on a Sunday afternoon writing them up wording them then scheduling them with buffer or hootsuite to upload on certain dates/times during the week. Now I have the problem of publishing 1 article for each of my clients thats 6 articles that now need to be written. I could do these at weekends/evenings and any extra spare time I may have. Could i justify employing somebody with 6 clients under my belt? the answer is no but £600 a week would allow me to leave full time work and focus on this business full time. Remember £100 a week would be for a limited package as you said so surely if I was working on this business full time I could find clients to take the more advanced packages. Eventually I agree I would need to employ someone but not until I felt 1) I could afford to 2} I couldnt possibly manage the work load myself no more and not being able to fully devote time to clients.
Also regarding the starting of a rival company this is one issue I havent thought through much right now but is there anything stopping any of us starting rival companies for any business' out there? Over the last few years PPI places have cropped up left right and centre, are they all using the same outlined business model? There all competing for the same clients?
What I am getting at is there anything out there to stop this from happening should I eventually employ someone?
regarding the F458 I can only dream of getting there! haha I would need lots of clients for that lets hope hardwork will pay off, if im pissing in the wind trying to make my fortune in this business well hey least I tried!
Also regarding the starting of a rival company this is one issue I havent thought through much right now but is there anything stopping any of us starting rival companies for any business' out there? Over the last few years PPI places have cropped up left right and centre, are they all using the same outlined business model? There all competing for the same clients?
What I am getting at is there anything out there to stop this from happening should I eventually employ someone?
regarding the F458 I can only dream of getting there! haha I would need lots of clients for that lets hope hardwork will pay off, if im pissing in the wind trying to make my fortune in this business well hey least I tried!
Okay ill try answer your questions, Can I sell?..... Yes I can sell, worked various telesales positions in the past selling anything from gas and electric to SEO and generating Life insurance leads. My USP right now as I am targeting locally at the minute is that I am local to there business should they need me they no where I am, I am very competitively priced and thirdly should they wish to discuss anything face to face this can be done. Some people do not like being sold to over the phone I totally get that hence for starting and gaining my first few clients I am starting locally. Admin/ Bookkeeping this is where I may struggle slightly I can keep up with general admin work and general bookkeeping balance sheets etc (EX girlfriend was training to be a accountant) but I may sometimes ask family members for a little help which I am sure they would be happy to help If I asked nicely Credit Control, I presume you mean chasing money from unpaid clients etc? Well because I am a small one man band operating from home I am currently only taking paypal payment. If this isnt what you mean I am all ears!
Credit Control, I presume you mean chasing money from unpaid clients etc? Well because I am a small one man band operating from home I am currently only taking paypal payment. If this isnt what you mean I am all ears! There would be several post's a day not one post, I can schedule posts to be posted at certain times throughout the day so lets say I made 8 posts on a monday for a client, I could have these 8 posts set up and ready to go on the sunday so when the time came I could concentrate on other parts of SM. Same for other days off the week.
Page tidy up could obviously be argued a one time thing yes but once every week/month whatever It is always a good idea for any business to have a general tidy up, could be as simple as pintrests to going through past posts/ write ups etc. The page layout and design is going to be the first thing someone see's if they are finding you through SM it needs to be at its best.
Page tidy up could obviously be argued a one time thing yes but once every week/month whatever It is always a good idea for any business to have a general tidy up, could be as simple as pintrests to going through past posts/ write ups etc. The page layout and design is going to be the first thing someone see's if they are finding you through SM it needs to be at its best.
Okay well thank you Hoofy defiantly making me think a lot more again about my pricing structure and what to include! By keeping the page at the best it can be I dont mean creating a brand new logo every month I mean making sure the right information is where it is, should you have a offer for example... Bridal shop " 15% off wedding dresses this week only" For that week you dont want to just send that post out and let it fall down the page it would need to be pinned etc.
Now ill tell you where I am at and as more experienced people please give me an honest answer
Basically where im at with this is I am 21 this year constantly thinking of new ideas/ ways I can become my own boss. Ever since being young this is the dream. Now am I pissing in the wind with this idea in terms of making my riches from SM Marketing and being my own boss? This is something that excites me and I am determined not to just throw the towel in. Ive got a little under 2 weeks left and I am doing everything I can to get it together. Now as I said am I pissing in the wind? Coming from people with some more life/business experience?
Now ill tell you where I am at and as more experienced people please give me an honest answer
Basically where im at with this is I am 21 this year constantly thinking of new ideas/ ways I can become my own boss. Ever since being young this is the dream. Now am I pissing in the wind with this idea in terms of making my riches from SM Marketing and being my own boss? This is something that excites me and I am determined not to just throw the towel in. Ive got a little under 2 weeks left and I am doing everything I can to get it together. Now as I said am I pissing in the wind? Coming from people with some more life/business experience?
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