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billbudgets.com

billbudgetsbillbudgets subscriber Posts: 1
edited March 2009 in Website Critique
Hi SuN!
My wife and I launched our site last week. We just came across startupnation.com and saw that we could have some of the members here do a critique for us.
At billbudgets.com we offer our services as a personal budget planning service. To get started, all you need is your income/expenses. You input that information into our easy to use form and submit it to us so we can make up your very own personalized budget plan. We don`t require any personal information (address, phone number, social security numbers, etc.), or any account information for your expenses. Once we have your budget prepared, we post it to your account and it can be viewed in PDF format by month. Simple as that.
My wife and I have understood the value in having a budget for years now, as I`m sure most of the the entreprenuers here will also. Please let us know what you think, as I stated in my blog, sometimes its hard to see the forest from the trees. We need the constructive criticism to make our site and our service even better.
Thanks!
John @ billbudgets.com

Comments

  • menexismenexis subscriber Posts: 1
    I like the site you and your wife have put up. I think its a though business to be in because you are basically competing against banks and financial institutions who offer bill pay services for free but that does not mean you will not succeed or make money doing this.
  • billbudgetsbillbudgets subscriber Posts: 1
    Thanks for the response! There is definitely a lot of competition out there, but I think with some effective marketing, we can become successful.
    I just wanted to address one thing you said. We are not a bill paying service, (at this time) we offer a personalized budget tailored to the needs of the individual requesting our services.
    We as entrepreneurs are a different bunch, but in our market study, we found that most people just pay whatever bills are due whenever they receive their paycheck. Without a savings (due in large part to proper budgeting), most people run at financial redline until the house of cards comes crashing down around them when an unexpected bill comes due.
    I sincerely appreciate the response and look forward to hearing more.
    Johnbillbudgets3/8/2009 4:42 PM
  • billbudgetsbillbudgets subscriber Posts: 1
    Craig,
    Thanks for the response! We decided to structure our system on the fixed expense side of things. I will take a look at how we could better implement a system for the variable expenses. Thanks!
    I do like the idea of getting something for free versus going straight to paying for a service that in a customers eyes isn`t proven. Definitely a good idea. We could in theory, take all of their submitted information and make a "projected savings" chart that would be beneficial in showing them how a budget could work for them.
    I will look into that.
    Thanks!
  • billbudgetsbillbudgets subscriber Posts: 1

    And to me, a Web site is all about competition and visibility. Why enter the crowded field of fixed-expense budgets where most people already know how to make a budget in Excel? Wouldn`t it make more sense to offer an online budget system to people who don`t know how to budget?

     
    What we have been able to do is work with several non-profit organizations that assist people in times of need (MI has been having a rough time along with a lot of other states). These organizations make it a requirement that the families they assist, stick to a firm weekly budget. Our site offers the perfect solution for this type of situation.
     
    Our ultimate goal is to teach people how to be fiscally conservative. In the land of easy credit, it is so simple to go out and spend way beyond your means. Our business model is geared towards two different sets of people:
     

    The first one is the person that doesn`t have the ability to budget. You mentioned that most people understand how to make a simple budget. I would have to argue that point. We found that less than 20% understood how to lay out an income/expense report. Even less than that understood how to lay out a simple weekly budget.
    The second one is the person that lacks either the time or the ambition to make up a budget. People lead busy live nowadays. In our research, we found that 80% of the people polled, understood how to make up a budget, they just lacked the time to be able to sit down and make one.

    I doubt that we would be in the economic conumdrum that we are in if more people lived their lives on a fixed budget rather than an I want budget
    I appreciate the input and realize that we may need to modify how we do things, but I believe we have a solid business model and the potential to help a lot of people.
     
    Sincerely,
     
    John
     
    -Didn`t the Joker say in Dark Knight that if you`re good at something, never do it for free?
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