What made you go the route that you did in your first successful venture? Was it something you were passionate about? Saw an opening in a market? Maybe you just fell into it? I am just curious about how most of you got started where you did. I have had a few flops and haven't had a success yet, but it's never going to stop me.
Posted Mar 24, 2015, 3:14 PM UTC
Low start up cost. Gap my local market. Competition wasn't daunting. Upscale looked (is) promising. Yolo.
For us we worked backwards...we determined the lifestyle that we wanted to have and then developed a business plan that would allow us to have it.
Our final product is a combination of the following:
Doing something we thought we'd enjoy.
Modifying the product to be unique in the marketplace.
Making adjustments based on demand or as you put it an opening in the market.
Tweaking our product after release.
At the end of the day I have definitely learned that hard work and patience is far more pertinent to success in business than the idea itself. Our "basic idea" isn't anything revolutionary, it's a secluded beach hotel, but we're doing it better than anyone else and that's where our success is coming from.
Once in a blue moon someone invents something truly new and makes their fortune, but for the most part starting a new business involves offering a good/service that already exists in a better way than someone else, or at the very least you offer the same service but are better at selling it.
That's really an awesome way of doing it and looking at it, I love it! Sounds like you truly found success through hard work and dedication!
I started out making the product for my own use. A couple of friends liked it, and suggested that I start selling online (they were familiar with other companies selling and doing well).
So, I purchased all of the inventory I needed to make the product. Purchased a Shopify site. And 5 months later, averaging $5,000/month.
I still have a full-time, but this is a fun side project.
Good to see someone with success making and selling their own product. How did you scale? So you made one for yourself first, then provided them to your friends and family; after that did you make a few and sell them online, and then reinvest and go up from there?
Basically, yes. My wife and I make the product to order. At this time, that is sufficient.
That's pretty great! Thanks for sharing! Care to plug the site here? Would love to see it!
http://www.smokymountainbeards.com
It's been an adventure staying above all of these fly-by-night "start-ups". I don't have the social media following that the bearded pleasures guy has, so it has been based solely on brand building, customer service, word of mouth, and advertising.
How did you generate traffic to your site?
Helping people in r/beards mostly. Answering questions and offering advice. If the opportunity to plug my site came up, the mods allow it within reason.
Since then, I've been using adwords, targeted Facebook campaigns, and I'm starting to see some organic search results.
Great strategy. Best of luck!
I realized that I could make money doing something I was simply learning about for fun at the time, so I started a small business. The idea was it would provide me with a little pocket money while still in college - nearly six years later I am making a living from it :-)
In this case, I expanded the services my company offers significantly over time, and weeded out ones that were not performing very well. Really I almost have multiple micro businesses under one name. This way if one service ceases being worthwhile there are fallbacks until I find something to replace it.
Can you expand on this? What do you do? How was the journey?
My company provides various Information Technology solutions.... the journey is too long to easily summerize ha. Any particular questions?
Where did you screw up the most?
Thanks for the response! Did you find it difficult in the beginning finding those first clients or nailing down a particular niche within your industry or did you just take in everything at the beginning and start to figure out what you did or didn't like/want?
Word of mouth has always been the most effective method to get new clients - in the beginning I did provided services for people I knew. At first I pretty much took any project I thought I could handle, and of course I made a lot of mistakes. Learning from those experiences, getting advice from colleagues, and looking for new opportunities got me to where I am now.
Basically you brainstorm a bunch and then act on the most feasible ideas, the ones that can be accomplished and are also worthwhile. Doesn't even have to be a new idea, just find an underserved market or do something better than your competitors. Low start up cost is also a factor!
First one: fell into. Second one: Saw an opening Third one: suggested by a client fourth one: saw an opening.
When I started building http://petithacks.com I just did it for myself: to have an archive of all techniques and marketing tricks that companies do in order to get more of your time, of your attention, of your clicks. I saw there was nothing similar in the market - perhaps http://littlebigdetails.com it's for UX people - but nothing like this for marketing. So I went for it.
I couldn't find a WordPress theme I liked so I decided to make one and sell it. I had to teach myself everything about web design and development to do it. That was 9 months ago and now I'm almost finished.
I do photography and graphic design as my side gigs. I enjoyed taking photos and had a couple friends asking me to do their wedding. Started at doing weddings for $300 with two photographers, now I charge $1800.
As far as graphic design, I did some side work, but then had kids, besides doing work for family businesses, haven't done any real projects for probably close to 2 years. Literally in this week alone, I've had 3-4 projects come to me via contacts through friends and family.
We wanted an online food-related business that my wife with a culinary background could start while raising our daughter. We realized shipping was one of the biggest costs and decided light tea in pouches could be viable.
I found the need in the market because my dad used his kids to fill it. I'm launching this summer, so I'm not sure it will work, but my investment is a few hundred dollars, so it can't hurt. Also it really helps that because my dad used me to do it, I already know what I'm doing.
It honestly kinda fell into my lap, but I'd like to think that at least recognizing the fact that it was a profitable idea is a good sign. The actual business itself is something I have no interest in, however running it is the part I enjoy which worked for me because I didn't have to be picky and work on my "passion".
For Me it is about being your own boss and believing in the idea you are pursuing
I persevered, just wouldn't quit. Learned many lessons the hard way.
Sometimes I talk to people starting out the first time, and I ask them, what is the number one predictor of a new business succeeding? The answer is, the experience of the founder. It's a catch 22, but the real message is be fearless, don't be afraid of failing or going broke, because you probably will the first time out. The lessons you learn can't be learned any other way, so go for it, and if you have entrepreneurship in your blood then this will only be your first trip around the block.
I just did what was easiest. Focused on a business that had competition, so I know there was money to be made. "A good business is a boring business. If you build a boring business you can have an exciting life."- Charles Ngo
Like what? Can you elaborate? You found a market that you wanted to be in and then created a product/service similar to a competitor?
I started InstaMaids.com which I sold late 2013. Working on WetShaveClub.com and GrooveLiving.com right now. It was a house cleaning company.
Not sexy, but then again all the smart tech savy people are focusing on sexy start ups and businesses, which makes things like local business have a much easier barrier to entry. Not only that, but it's already proven people are paying for that service, so it's a for sure win if you can just provide a better service, and make it easier for people to order online.
There's a subreddit r/EntrepreneurRideAlong and a facebook group for us attacking easy business https://www.facebook.com/groups/groovelearning/
Can you elaborate on what kind of financials you were making through Instamaids? If not, bookings per day or other metics to gauge scale?
40k/month in revenue by the 5th month in business. It was pretty good :)
I mean, it IS sexy, creating something from that people love, use, and keep them coming back for more, there isn't anything about it that isn't sexy, really great work.
Great way to look at it!
Came here to talk about this too, glad to see you're already here. : )
Wow. I love that quote! Man thanks for that.
This resonated allot with me. In lieu of the tech start up hype, I found myself trying to start the latest and greatest thing, when there are so many traditional businesses that can thrive with use of the internet. Great advice.