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My venture into the world of entrepreneurship for the first time
TimTimTimma
subscriber Posts: 3
Hello,
Let me first introduce myself, I am a new comer and my name is Tim. I have been mauling over the idea, well yearning for it really, to start my own business for the past several months. The one thing that has always prevented me from taking the leap of faith was the fear of failure. I have recently overcome this fear and have decided I want to start an online business!
Next hurdle for me was what kind of business do I want to get involved in? Sales? Services? Reinvent the wheel? I eventually decided I wanted to take a venture that did not require so much money up front, seeing as I don`t have a ton of it, and decided to go with drop shipping for starters. I figure this will save me tons of time and money and potential grief from having to grow relationships with various venders when I have 0 experience.
I decided to start doing some research, so I started reading articles online. I went to borders yesterday and looked at some books and came away with the Starting an Online Business for Dummies, 2nd Edition. I read the first few chapters and have come up with an action time line that puts my online E-tail store open for business on October 1, 2009.
My Action Plan: http://docs.google.com/View?id=ddb9c2b4_0gn9p57gp
All input appreciated regarding the plan!
My plan is to run an e-tail store from both my own personal website and ebay. I have never sold anything on ebay before so I am currently selling a decorative plate I have and seeing if I get a bite. If I do, what I make, if anything, is not important, but rather the experience of going thru and seeing how it works from the sellers side if I break even after shipping I will be happy.
I have set some financial goals for myself regarding the business and written down why I want to start my own business that way I can always come back if I lose focus or forget why I am doing what I am doing.
Goals
By 3 months I would like to profit $100 a week
By 6 months I would like to profit $250 a week
By 12 months I would like to profit $500 a week
Quit my job @ 12 month goal and take my business full time.
I`m not entirely sure if these are realistic goals, but I have always lived by the notion that I can accomplish anything, so long as I have a target to aim at, and make an honest effort to hit a bullzeye.
I am just now taking the steps to making my dream of owning and running my own business a reality. I know there will be obstacles to over come along the way and a lot of work ahead of me, but I am prepared to endure the pain and tackle the problems to realize my dream.
With that said, I have come to this community in hope that the people here both that have already walked down the path I am only begining to step upon and those who are also just starting out might be able to offer me some guidance, validation, suggestions and informative resources to aid me during my adventure, that way my walk through the woods might be just a little easier.
Sincerely,
Tim
TimTimTimma7/13/2009 3:38 PM
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Comments
I concur with Craig. Forget ebay.
The first question is besides the dream of owning and running your own business or financial goals, what do you want to do for your customers that someone else is not doing or not doing well? Running and owning a business is a tough thing but totally fun!. You seem realistic with regards to it`s challenges. Be realistic, but definitely pursue your dreams. I am my worst critic. Most entrepreneurs are much harder on themselves than other people are on them. For every idea I have, I always first try to think of all the obstacles and then how to overcome them.
If you are planning an eCommerce store, check out www.magentocommerce.com. This is a free ecommerce platform. If you are web savvy, you can do this yourself. We based our site on this platform. It is more advanced than osCommerce. It has most of the tools however, figure on about 2K-5K to get it customized for your needs.
Regards,
Neil
www.ecodisplayware.com
As for your business plan, don`t forget the importance of creating a solid marketing plan for yourself and then sticking with it come hell or high water. As tempting as it is to take money that your new business "earns" ... you are far better off to discipline yourself into constantly using at least 20% of your profit for marketing/advertising. In fact, the first two or three months, I`d put 100% of the income generated back into marketing just to get the ball rolling.
If you`re working online, take advantage of every guerilla marketing technique available, learn them inside out and then do them consistently every single day to see results. Starting a business online really is no different than any brick and mortar ... a person has to consistently make effort to start seeing consistent results. You`ve already done more than most people out there in thinking through the process and coming to the realization that you need good planning.
Best of luck in your endeavors!