Back to the slowlane - hope its temporary

[NinoE]

a setback but hoping it's temporary. Posting simply to share this part of the journey, MJ was right nobody said it would be easy.

Took the leap early this year to started a couple of business (yeah there are 2 just because they are both good opportunities we couldn't pass up) of course the goal is to choose one that works and hopefully sell the other one on our way to business monogamy.

The plan was get these 2 online business going and hoping that I would be able to use our 'buffer fund' plus some photography work on the side www.ninoestrada.com to sustain us. Wife, 2 kids and a mortgage.

Business 1
HUBaBag - www.hubabag.com.au , bag organizers and a few new products on range, it started really good turning over out first batch of shipments in less than a month, goods were manufactured overseas. Things started to slow down because of a great opportunity that we can't pass on.
USP's
- washable
- design and quality
- a place for everything

Completely brand focus, the brand sells the product.

Business 2
We were given a chance to be the exclusive distributor of a new art medium here in Australia, turned over 1000 units so far since we started in July so still a work in progress but sales are decent being a home based business.
Craft Republic www.craftrepublic.com.au
USP's
- new art medium
- non toxic
- no mess, it's not sand
- design and colours to choose from

We've spent a lot of hours doing our website, SEO, SEM, marketing collaterals, cold calls, presentations and of course making sure we learn something new everyday. Tracking and measuring everything.

Current status:
'Buffer fund' ran out, and now I'm back trading my time for money. Working on the business'es' at nights and on the weekends.

I'm hoping it's temporary, but really discouraged. I would just like to spend most of my hours to focus on the business'es but I still need to provide for my family.

Need your thoughts guys, need the boost, I know a lot of you went through a similar situation, I just want to stay positive and would love some words of encouragement. Any business advice would be greatly appreciated. I lurk here to learn!

Thank you for your time.

 

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[maverick]

NinoE,

I just wanted to tell you to stick at it all. It's never easy.. we've all got our own circumstances / obstacles however you can always twist them and use them as motivation. In your case: having 2 kids and a mortgage can be seen as financial obstacles or you can choose to use it as motivation; I want a better life for my wife and kids and will never give up.

Your post struck a chord with me so just wanted to give you some motivating words.

"It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters." Epictetus

 

[awkwardgenius]

Everything is temporary...just stay focused, don't let the grind distract you, and don't lose focus of your goals. You can do this!

 

[Toao]

awkward is right. Stay focused and concentrate on your higher goals. I had some drawbacks myself, it's as well related to the fastlane to do some detours as the big goal at the end of the road. The most important thing to take care of is that you finally come back on track again.
I'm not sure if it is a good idea to do more than one business in parallel. There is a saying that the guy who chases two rabbits will catch none of them in the end. Of course special opportunities are tempting all the time, but as you might do 2 business and none of them right it might be better to do only one business but the right way. I'd like to hear MJ's opinion on this (as I see a tempting opportunity by myself at the moment)

 

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[TK1]

Keep your head up

It's not back to the slowlane - it's just doing a job to make ends meet.

Back to the slowlane is giving up and saying 'I don't believe I can succeed with my own biz'.

As long as you have the believe to try with your own biz, you are still on the right path and definately NOT slowlane.

And for the thing wheter one of your businesses will fail - you think about closing it etc.:

Don't forget there's a difference between giving up and definite failure / loss. Your biz can always be only ONE good action away from blowing up - just ask any biz owner who was on shark tank ;-)

 

[NinoE]

thanks guys, it's really good to hear words of encouragement from like minded people.

We still have a bit of inventory left for the bags and my wife and I are discussing to focus most of our attention on crafts since a huge chunk of our revenue is coming from it.

I would also like to hear MJ's take on this, HUBaBag solves a need while Craft is selling something new in the market. I still get some photography jobs on the side but of course I'm hoping to gain the freedom to do it more without having to think about the costs. Day job + photog on the side + businesses = 5 year plan to the freedom.

Again I appreciate the time you guys have taken to read my post and post a reply.

 

[OnePerCent]

Don't worry and get this as a new experience to add to your professional life.
While you work at the new place, you'll have the time to visualize your next venture.

 

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[NinoE]

thanks Onepercent

the business is till going just not enough to make ends meet as of the moment so hopefully my situation is temporary but the conundrum is its taking time away from my current venture

 

[OzGrinder]

Hi Mate

How hard are you marketing your products? I couldn't find them on the typical Aussie shopping aggregators, so myshopping.com.au, getprice.com.au, shopbot.com.au etc.

Any reason you aren't on those sites?

Did you engage an SEO firm to handle the SEO/SEM or did you do it yourself?

Run any adwords/bingads/facebook etc. ppc campaigns? Or are your margins and conversian rates to low to sustain those types of ads?

I'm currently working with an online store to get some of this stuff in order, from what I'm seeing there's alot more they can be doing to market their online store.

I'm syd based as well and actually looking to speak to more Australian based online merchants. Not selling anything, just looking to chat, and confirm some common pain points/needs I've heard come up.

My intro post is here if you want my back story:
https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/in.../41121-intro-500k-27yo-my-story-my-goals.html

PM me if you don't want to reply in the public forum.

Cheers

 

[NinoE]

Hi Ozgrinder,

We've tried shopping comparison websites before and got mixed results and focused our strategies well at least for HUBaBag to branding. The bags are well made and well designed, with the sudden increase in competitors we are now focusing on the Brand to sell the products hoping our USP's, design and quality can justify our prices. We still need to work on getting more traffic then work on our conversion. Still a lot of work to do with so little time.

Myshopping, minimum ppc budget is $50, I think I may well use that for Adwords and get quality traffic, $1.40 qualified minimum bid for 'bag organisers'.

As for the crafts we don't think we need to go that route just because we're distributing a new art medium and have exclusive rights to sell them here in Australia, the medium is patented, non toxic and self drying. We have regular clients ranging from parties, events and disability services. We're looking to get more wholesalers and re-sellers.

As for SEO and SEM, yes I've done it all myself, article submission, social media, link building etc
HUBabag - currently number 1 in organic search in google for keyword 'bag organisers'
Craft - first page on both 'paper clay' and 'paper clay art'
photography website - top 900,000 on alexa was on first page for 'photographer' now down to 9th page and 3rd page for 'sydney photographer' next would be SEO for keyword 'wedding photographer'

We have just finished running a campaign for the bags with a .5 conversion so still looking for additional revenue to fund anymore campaigns.

For Craft our product ranges from $2 to $20 again with no competition but a lot of alternatives, so we'll probably start some campaigns early next year. We have oversold some designs this month so just pushing enough until the next shipment arrives.

Added you as friend.

Thanks mate

 

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[johnp]

Current status:
'Buffer fund' ran out, and now I'm back trading my time for money. Working on the business'es' at nights and on the weekends.

I'm hoping it's temporary, but really discouraged. I would just like to spend most of my hours to focus on the business'es but I still need to provide for my family.

Don't be discouraged. Change your perspective and it will change your path in life.

This unfortunate set-back is a good thing. My advice - Absorb every sucking moment of your job. Don't stop feeling the pain until going to work feels like someone is slowly carving your teeth out of your gums with an icepick. Count every second of freedom that you are losing when you work for someone. And Come home, work on your business, until your body can't continue anymore.

Then react and rise again. But this time, do it with passion.

Your desire to make your business successful should energize you and make you feel like you will literally blow up if you don't start moving. Your desire to be successful, not just for you, but your family as well, will make you wiling to sacrifice anything and everything that you have. Your hatred for trading your time for money will motivate you in ways that you don't even know are humanly possible. You will find yourself trying to do things that you you never tried before. You will find yourself wanting to improve areas of your life that you didn't even think about improving before you started working again. As an entrepreneur/business person, you will evolve.

It's funny. Working a job can inspire you and change the course of your life if you know how to look at it. It all starts with diving head first into the gates of hell (your job), then climbing out. With each step you become more determined to never return back again.

And if you don't get this feeling, then maybe a job is a good thing.

 

[NinoE]

Your desire to make your business successful should energize you and make you feel like you will literally blow up if you don't start moving. Your desire to be successful, not just for you, but your family as well, will make you wiling to sacrifice anything and everything that you have. Your hatred for trading your time for money will motivate you in ways that you don't even know are humanly possible. You will find yourself trying to do things that you you never tried before. You will find yourself wanting to improve areas of your life that you didn't even think about improving before you started working again. As an entrepreneur/business person, you will evolve.

You have just exactly described what I'm feeling right now, absolutely no peace but just being faithful in my current situation. Yes you are right it's a matter of perspective. very well said and appreciated!

 

[johnp]

You have just exactly described what I'm feeling right now, absolutely no peace but just being faithful in my current situation. Yes you are right it's a matter of perspective. very well said and appreciated!

I'm in the same situation as you. I have been in the 'slowlane' for about 1.5 years now. I have found that it's all about using the slowlane to motivate you. When you enter the slowlane you have 2 choices.

1) Hate it. Bitch and moan. And Let it pull you down. - This is a negative force which pulls you away from your end goal, as you are now focusing more on the job and less on your business.

2) Hate it. But hate it so much that you love it, because it motivates you to build a strong business. In this case you're converting negative energy into positive, and funneling into your business/escape.

That's how I see it.

Good luck with everything

 

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[OzGrinder]

We still need to work on getting more traffic then work on our conversion. Still a lot of work to do with so little time.

Sounds like you're on the right track. Only thing I would recommend is looking into outsourcing your SEO to a reputable firm (cost might not be justified though), still it's worth exploring to see if they can improve your rankings, assuming this isn't already your area of expertise, even if it is it'll free up some time.

I know nothing about these particular product markets, so I don't know your competition etc. but be aware that many people run boutique online stores in their spare time as a hobby and not as a primary source of income. This allows them to price their products at a bare minimum and can put the full-timers (hoping to draw a salary from it) at considerable disadvantage, I've seen this first hand.

Seems like you already know this though which is why you are pushing the brand.

Well done though, speed+.

 

[NinoE]

I know nothing about these particular product markets, so I don't know your competition etc. but be aware that many people run boutique online stores in their spare time as a hobby and not as a primary source of income. This allows them to price their products at a bare minimum and can put the full-timers (hoping to draw a salary from it) at considerable disadvantage, I've seen this first hand.

Thanks for the advice mate, that's why I love lurking here, get to learn something new everyday. Yes you need to spend money to earn money, down the track it would be a good idea outsourcing.

Again thanks for the advice, added you as a contact here at the forum and business insights like the one you posted will be put to good use.

Cheers mate.