New start-ups

[Seany88]

Anyone care to share their tales and tribulations of starting up a new company? How it was built, how did you slowly bring in customers and increase business etc?

I'm looking for motivation and thought it might help others too.

[Seany88]

I am a professional but am interested in business and hoping to start a few ventures in the near future, but the daunting task of trying to make a success of these is very scary to me, having no business/economic background myself.

Edited by Seany88 on Thursday 29th March 21:27

[Seany88]

At the moment, i'm not prepared to give up my day job for it, am hoping to run it alongside until it takes off (if it ever does).

My business is not really hands-on (with no suppliers either), but how do you draw in customers when you are a new company with no provenance or other clients on the books? I'm struggling to think of the best way to tackle this. Any suggestions?

[Seany88]

V8 EOL said:

Seany88 said:

I'm struggling to think of the best way to tackle this. Any suggestions?

Put a good story together and go and see them. Make it as risk free for them as possible (100% payment on acceptance ect) and don't give up.

Thank you, you have given me some ideas already. This is where special offers come in right

[Seany88]

BliarOut said:

Seany88 said:

V8 EOL said:

Seany88 said:

I'm struggling to think of the best way to tackle this. Any suggestions?

Put a good story together and go and see them. Make it as risk free for them as possible (100% payment on acceptance ect) and don't give up.

Thank you, you have given me some ideas already. This is where special offers come in right

Do you have a plan to have the business generate a monthly income in the absence of fresh sales?

Its not that sort of business so no. In fact in a way it is self-propagating once it gets going its just getting that ball rolling so to speak.

I know i'm being quite cagey and cryptic with this but i will reveal all once the website is built and company registered then ask for opinions again.

Edited by Seany88 on Tuesday 27th March 22:37

[Seany88]

dabeeeenster said:

I'd recommend doing one thing at a time. Trying to start "a few" ventures is really inviting trouble. If any of your ideas are not sufficient to provide you with a living by themselves I'd suggest that they aren't worth bothering with in the first place.

True, and I am taking one at a time in order of which is most likely to make me a millionaire! I'm not launching into it as it will be very much a hit and miss thing as no matter how good I think it'll be, it ultimately will depend on whether the market decide to use my services or not!

dabeeeenster said:

Best way to sell when you are starting out:

- Be COMPLETELY OPEN AND HONEST. It's the single most important part of selling in my opinion. Most people with serious money to spend can spot a bullshitter a mile away.
- Use your small size to your advantage. Be more flexible and provide lower total cost than your competitors. They have bigger overheads; use that against them.
- Make use of your personal network, but dont rely on it in the medium to long term.

I do plan to provide better services than competitors by being more focused in my area, but how do I attract people to an online service that cannot conduct its business solely by being online?

I've just re-read that last sentence and it sounds like i'm trying to rewrite the market and i'm not, but I kind of am. I cannot attract customers solely online, as the majority of customers I would expect to gain through word of mouth and recommendations. I will have to advertise in relevant newspapers and other media but what would entice you to try a different approach to something that has been done the same way for hundreds of years? i.e. ebay?

[Seany88]

J_S_G said:

Seany88 said:

I do plan to provide better services than competitors by being more focused in my area, but how do I attract people to an online service that cannot conduct its business solely by being online?

I've just re-read that last sentence and it sounds like i'm trying to rewrite the market and i'm not, but I kind of am. I cannot attract customers solely online, as the majority of customers I would expect to gain through word of mouth and recommendations. I will have to advertise in relevant newspapers and other media but what would entice you to try a different approach to something that has been done the same way for hundreds of years? i.e. ebay?

Sean, drop me a mail if you want some help with this side of it. It's something I have a little experience of helping companies with.

Hi JSG YHM.

And to the rest of you, thanks for the support it does give me some drive to get on with it but its true, having a job already does make you lazy. As Chandler from Friends said (to Rachel) "You need to get the fear!"