Thread: My Fastlane Startup - Website is in the Works

Yay! I finally get to start my own Fastlane startup thread! After reading so many of them I couldn't wait until I could actually make my own.

So I'll start with how I thought of my idea, and go from there.

Services, Problems, Bathrooms

When I first read TMF, I was really hit by the part where it talked about a business that gathers lightning data and sells it to insurance companies. It was like a "TADA!" moment for me. It seemed such a simple, but creative concept, that I decided right there to try to find a service business opportunity like that. So I looked back at all the problems and inconveniences that I had experienced recently. It took me a while before I remembered that earlier in the week I had to change the soap in the bathroom. I don't know why but it was so annoying to have to do it. As I thought about this, I started to scratch my hands. They were so dry, the skin was flaking off. Right then and there, ThinkSoap was born.

ThinkSoap

Basically, ThinkSoap is an online store/service that lets customers just buy natural, handmade soap, or they can sign up for our soap service. With our soap service, you pick a certain time (for ex. every month) at which your soap will be finished and we will send you soap at those times. Also you pick how many soap bars you want and the soap types. The soap that we will sell is made with natural aloes and shea butter, to help you skin stay soft and hydrated. And by using soap bars instead of liquid, you can save money as people tend to use too much liquid soap.

Plans

The market I am initially going to target is B&Bs, since MJ said that B to B is the best way to go. I still have to plan out how I am going to market this, some of my thoughts are to start cold calling. Any thoughts on how I could market?
Once I have a sizable core of customers, I think I will branch out and target other small markets like people in the country that don't like having to go to the store. As for now, its building the website and learning about everything I will need.

Here is the link to the launching page of my website: http://thinksoap.com/

Comments and Feedback are appreciated!

Cool avatar!

Some of your competitors could be companies that supply everything for company bathrooms from the paper towels to the stuff that they clean the floor with. Offering these other products in an automatic renew fashion as well and undercutting the competition may be your best bet.

One issue with he auto soap order is that if you send it a little too often they will have a bunch of soap laying around. If you send it not often enough then they will run out. Gotta get it right I guess. Maybe send 2 containers at a time and replenish after the first container. Like a 2 bin inventory system.

I am using Wordpress for now, eventually when I have more capital I will contract someone to develop it. I am using ElegantThemes for my theme. They are Awsome! The landing page is one of their plugins.
As for the time countdown, it is not only for building the website, but also for all the paperwork and making deals with wholesalers etc. so that my site will be fully operational and ready to go by that time.

Love the landing page and branding, good luck with the launch. Will checkout your site on launch day.

Yeah, the landing page looks sweet and contemporary.

Now try to contact some potential clients as soon as possible and see if they would be willing to buy. That is the way you can validate the business idea. If you call 30 potential customers and none are interested, then you most likely need to change your idea or target market somehow.

I hope all the best for your business!

Is this for consumers to buy household soap or businesses? I don't think businesses can really use bar soap unless it is a hospital for individual patients. I actually like the idea of being able to put stuff I use everyday on auto-pilot, I'd love soap, shampoo, make-up and so on and so forth to just show up at my door (without having to remember to order it). I'm also waiting patiently for restaurants to get facial recognition software that will recognize me as I walk in and be able to just have my order up on the screen with a happy smiling person who says "Hello, Sue... would you like your regular order today?" I'd like to say "yes", have it process off my credit card without even taking it out of my wallet...I want serious auto-pilot and superior customer service for day to day tasks.

Good luck with Thinksoap... I'm sure there are millions of folks out there like me who would love to put this mundane stuff on auto-pilot.

Sue

Originally Posted by BeingChewsie

Is this for consumers to buy household soap or businesses? I don't think businesses can really use bar soap unless it is a hospital for individual patients. I actually like the idea of being able to put stuff I use everyday on auto-pilot, I'd love soap, shampoo, make-up and so on and so forth to just show up at my door (without having to remember to order it). I'm also waiting patiently for restaurants to get facial recognition software that will recognize me as I walk in and be able to just have my order up on the screen with a happy smiling person who says "Hello, Sue... would you like your regular order today?" I'd like to say "yes", have it process off my credit card without even taking it out of my wallet...I want serious auto-pilot and superior customer service for day to day tasks.

Good luck with Thinksoap... I'm sure there are millions of folks out there like me who would love to put this mundane stuff on auto-pilot.

Sue

Thanks! For starters, I am going to focus on B&B, since they are businesses and have their bathrooms used a lot. By doing this I will be more easily able to market. After a while, I will start doing it with rural areas, ranches and that kind of stuff. And, yes I will eventually go after everyone who wants to put this on Autopilot. But I have absolutely no idea how I would advertise to such a broad and undefined market.
Also, I have thought about what other Autopilot businesses I could start, things that are always being replaced. Right now I am thinking about a LLC name that would fit with the AutoPilot idea. If anyone has a cool name that goes with the concept, shoot.

Jake

So, as I have been plodding away at putting this business together, I was wondering if I should spend some time creating buzz?

Originally Posted by Jacob Scholes

So, as I have been plodding away at putting this business together, I was wondering if I should spend some time creating buzz?

I would just focus on the site itself before focusing on anything else. If your site is good enough and the service is something people are looking for, that can create a lot of buzz in and of itself.

Thanks for the advice! Another thing I just thought of is, would this business need Legal pages? (privacy Policy, Terms of Service, etc)
I think I read once that you don't need to make one unless there is a chance of legal issues.

Originally Posted by Jacob Scholes

Thanks for the advice! Another thing I just thought of is, would this business need Legal pages? (privacy Policy, Terms of Service, etc)
I think I read once that you don't need to make one unless there is a chance of legal issues.

I don't see any reason why it would hurt to have one. You have to protect yourself and your business as much as possible no matter what product or service you're selling, so I would look into it. Plus anything that can make your potential customers feel more secure and/or make your business look more professional is always a good thing.

I think it's a great idea. Could be very useful if you cater to the organic soap people and households and supple them monthly with organic soaps or whatever they'd like. Hopefully that made sense.

And don't mean to go off topic here, but I am currently making a wordpress site for my online business as well and I love how yours is setup right now. What is the exact themse name you're using?? And is it free or did you pay for it? And how exactly did you get that counter on there? I have looked and can't find a way to add one. If you could let me know, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thanks for the replies!
So the counter that I am using is actually a plugin that redirects visitors to itself, while the real theme is what I can see and what I work on when I am logged in. Both the plugin and the theme I will use are from ElegantThemes, which I highly recommend. You get great themes for a great price.

I like your logo. Good luck!

would this business need Legal pages?

Always a good idea. Just use the standard versions for now. Also if you plan to send google ads traffic to your site I know that Google pretty much insists on a privacy policy or it gets "upset".

I also love the site and the idea. B&B usually buy their soap in bulk but there's no reason you can't offer the same service for bulk supplies (might even be more lucrative). You could also offer categories, such as special fragrances or anti-allergy. I just cracked open a cake I "borrowed" from The Sheraton hotel. I really like the smell of their soap and smell being such a strong memory trigger just reminds me of the great times I had there. Not sure if you can use that idea somewhere but if you can get them thinking that not only are you an automated service but they particularly like "your brand" it might foster addiction to your brand.

Maybe you can get a soap brand going as well. If it smells nice (or makes hands feel better) people will buy from you even if it's more expensive. It's not always necessary to compete on price and in your case might even be very difficult. I like the name as well. Well done!

HTH.

Hey, great start.

I think what you can do is perhaps have a few photos of the soaps in their packaging on your landing page. This could really boost the response rate. With your present landing page, though elegant, I do not think anyone would spend any time enough to leave you any kind of feedback.

What you should do is to actually go ahead with the mock up of the actual website and also I strongly would suggest encouraging clients to actually go ahead and place the orders. The subsequent page should show that there is a wait due to back orders or something to that effect.

You are wasting precious time that should be spent trying to test out the market. If you do not see the response that you expect, you know that you need to make changes. Sorry, but you are in a very tough niche. This could save you perhaps lot of money in the end. You are wasting valuable time and resources by offering nothing on your websites.

You also definitely need a terrific value proposition. Positioning in this market is perhaps the most important.

I am struggling to see the value proposition. If you are hoping for a successful business with this, I think you will need to spend some serious dollars to generate traffic.

As far as the product itself is concerned, I am keen to see the packaging and pricing.

Originally Posted by V8Bill

ou could also offer categories, such as special fragrances or anti-allergy.

I will be using organic natural soaps, almost for sure handmade, but I cant remember exactly.

Originally Posted by FxInvestor

perhaps have a few photos of the soaps in their packaging

Do you think that packaging will be that important?

Originally Posted by FxInvestor

I am struggling to see the value proposition.

ThinkSoap saves you time and money by automatically sending you organic, natural soap that is beneficial to the skin. Is that not clear?

Originally Posted by FxInvestor

What you should do is to actually go ahead with the mock up of the actual website and also I strongly would suggest encouraging clients to actually go ahead and place the orders. The subsequent page should show that there is a wait due to back orders or something to that effect.

I don't know if its just me but when I go to a website that looks un-profesional, it always makes me think their product/service is un-profesional. It normally doesn't even enter into my mind to order from these websites. That's why I am getting the site ready to launch without having a mock up. What are your thoughts on this?

Idea makes sense, similar to the sock deliver service like this one Blacksocks.com