Expanding and separating my business??

[Jemmalee]

Hey everyone

Thanks for all your help recently.
I wish to put an idea out there as I working out if there anything I can do to expand or separate my current business or just let it run its course completely.

I own a local events company.
We provide audio and lighting solutions and also our most hired product - those big Light Up Letters you see.

A few years ago I attempted to separate the products by having a Light up Letter company but it didn’t work.

In today’s world, it appears this product is still very prominent in the market.

I am looking to see if it expandable in a different way or to maybe try the separation again.

Things that aren’t helping;

-Other letter companies offer additional products such as neons and floral backdrops etc - I don’t have the money to invest in further products (covid wiped income for 3 months).

- Our brand name - it is irrelevant to the product and other companies have focused on the keywords

- I don’t have any money for Ads right now

- I’ve struggled to scale it anyway despite being top of google for search term in local area

-despite having the best made product compared to the shoddy rough product competitors seem to be able to sell hires to corporate clients and we rarely get the opportunity or PR

- I’ve built the business from my sofa, I had only just started networking this year (before covid) as I had previous bad experiences where I just found most of the networking groups so strict or full of ‘up their arse’ morons that chase money and I really struggled to click, it was uncomfortable.

Things that have been positive

-building website to top of google for 2 search terms

-regular income - supports our family but that is all

-enjoyed my time bringing up kids whilst young, which was my goal

- I can do all the tech myself and photography and product builds ourselves (partner builds and sets up hires) , I do everything else

- next year is set to be most profitable yet due to picking up a corporate client for audio visual services


My ideas ....

franchise it - I don’t think our brand name will work ? It’s a difficult one as we hand build all our own products.

Expand to different areas - I have no money to pay a staff member, I can’t be everywhere and can’t pay for storage in another area

Sell the products - again, there’s only one of us building, there’s only so many you can build in a day and most people don’t want to pay the price. They would rather make them themselves hence being poor quality

I’m feeling stuck and don’t know which way to go. I’ve been in this position 2 years and just can’t seem to work out what I need or should be doing.

Or I let it run it’s course and start something new (which I have repeatedly done for 2 years, approx 35 new brands, which I closed due to various reasons, I was focused and sucked into the online social media world - I do have a knack for creating new business ideas).

Any advice or comments very much welcomed to help me from this hole.

thanks

 

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[kleine2]

Hey everyone

Thanks for all your help recently.
I wish to put an idea out there as I working out if there anything I can do to expand or separate my current business or just let it run its course completely.

I own a local events company.
We provide audio and lighting solutions and also our most hired product - those big Light Up Letters you see.

A few years ago I attempted to separate the products by having a Light up Letter company but it didn’t work.

In today’s world, it appears this product is still very prominent in the market.

I am looking to see if it expandable in a different way or to maybe try the separation again.

Things that aren’t helping;

-Other letter companies offer additional products such as neons and floral backdrops etc - I don’t have the money to invest in further products (covid wiped income for 3 months).

- Our brand name - it is irrelevant to the product and other companies have focused on the keywords

- I don’t have any money for Ads right now

- I’ve struggled to scale it anyway despite being top of google for search term in local area

-despite having the best made product compared to the shoddy rough product competitors seem to be able to sell hires to corporate clients and we rarely get the opportunity or PR

- I’ve built the business from my sofa, I had only just started networking this year (before covid) as I had previous bad experiences where I just found most of the networking groups so strict or full of ‘up their arse’ morons that chase money and I really struggled to click, it was uncomfortable.

Things that have been positive

-building website to top of google for 2 search terms

-regular income - supports our family but that is all

-enjoyed my time bringing up kids whilst young, which was my goal

- I can do all the tech myself and photography and product builds ourselves (partner builds and sets up hires) , I do everything else

- next year is set to be most profitable yet due to picking up a corporate client for audio visual services


My ideas ....

franchise it - I don’t think our brand name will work ? It’s a difficult one as we hand build all our own products.

Expand to different areas - I have no money to pay a staff member, I can’t be everywhere and can’t pay for storage in another area

Sell the products - again, there’s only one of us building, there’s only so many you can build in a day and most people don’t want to pay the price. They would rather make them themselves hence being poor quality

I’m feeling stuck and don’t know which way to go. I’ve been in this position 2 years and just can’t seem to work out what I need or should be doing.

Or I let it run it’s course and start something new (which I have repeatedly done for 2 years, approx 35 new brands, which I closed due to various reasons, I was focused and sucked into the online social media world - I do have a knack for creating new business ideas).

Any advice or comments very much welcomed to help me from this hole.

thanks

What comes to mind:
1) For the products that other letter companies have and you don't have the money to invest in. you might talk to some of those other companies and see if you can resell their products when people want those too. See if you can make it a win win where you retain the customer but they can make more sales through you (since you bring in leads from your local area).
2) After you have collected some ideas of changes that you want to make, find a cool sounding new name and change your name. That might have the added advantage of giving you some momentum and excitement for something new.

 

[Atu de Tank]

-despite having the best made product compared to the shoddy rough product competitors seem to be able to sell hires to corporate clients and we rarely get the opportunity or PR

- I’ve built the business from my sofa, I had only just started networking this year (before covid) as I had previous bad experiences where I just found most of the networking groups so strict or full of ‘up their arse’ morons that chase money and I really struggled to click, it was uncomfortable.

1. Please do not look at the quality of your product from your own perspective. Customer always looks at what they need now, and how easy they can get it. I know a marketing agency that was working for years without any website, but they pick up the phone right after the first ring - and that's important to its customers. What can be really important for your customers?

2. If you are networking in "networking meetings" , yes, those things may be full of people who came to sell. Maybe try thinking "outside the box". What about going to local meeting where your customers really are present? What about establishing "visibility" on those meetings? It may be time consuming, but worth the effort. And I do not mean about paying for time by the microphone, but being there and normally talking to people, asking about their problems, etc, etc...

 

[Jemmalee]

1. Please do not look at the quality of your product from your own perspective. Customer always looks at what they need now, and how easy they can get it. I know a marketing agency that was working for years without any website, but they pick up the phone right after the first ring - and that's important to its customers. What can be really important for your customers?

2. If you are networking in "networking meetings" , yes, those things may be full of people who came to sell. Maybe try thinking "outside the box". What about going to local meeting where your customers really are present? What about establishing "visibility" on those meetings? It may be time consuming, but worth the effort. And I do not mean about paying for time by the microphone, but being there and normally talking to people, asking about their problems, etc, etc...

thanks.

Yes I only compare my products because of the safety as I have seen most letters in our area and they are very unsafe for children (bulbs get hot etc) but I guess people just don’t care about safety.

I think our people just want reliability and for it to look good.

local meetings?
Apart from wedding fayres which are obviously wedding related, there aren’t any other places apart from the average network meetings where business owners meet.

I once started to look at setting up a ‘party and event suppliers’ network but it was such a long arduous process and my time was zapped before it had even gotten its first date so I bailed. Also - I was going to lose money.

im not entirely sure there’s a need for it.

I’m a member of One network but it is very corporate, which is great for corporate clients but not really private.

 

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[Walter Hay]

franchise it - I don’t think our brand name will work ? It’s a difficult one as we hand build all our own products.

By all means change the name NOW.

From the beginning of your post my thoughts went to franchising. You are fortunate being in the UK where there is no franchising legislation to comply with. Provided you trade ethically you can franchise your business without masses of red tape.

There will be some cost to you to set up a franchise system, but if you research franchising in the UK you will find that you can do a lot of it yourself. To help with your research I would like to send you a free copy of my book Franchise Your Way To The Fastlane.

If you would like to receive it, just let me know. I will also be happy to answer any questions about the subject, whether in this thread or privately. I think you deserve to succeed.

Walter

 

[Jemmalee]

By all means change the name NOW.

From the beginning of your post my thoughts went to franchising. You are fortunate being in the UK where there is no franchising legislation to comply with. Provided you trade ethically you can franchise your business without masses of red tape.

There will be some cost to you to set up a franchise system, but if you research franchising in the UK you will find that you can do a lot of it yourself. To help with your research I would like to send you a free copy of my book Franchise Your Way To The Fastlane.

If you would like to receive it, just let me know. I will also be happy to answer any questions about the subject, whether in this thread or privately. I think you deserve to succeed.

Walter

Thanks

it’s a difficult task to change the name of the whole brand as it has been established for 8 years and I’m pretty sure google wouldn’t quite understand that.

Ive been thinking of separating the current company to keep all the props on one business and the rest onthe current.

Im not sure why it didn’t work last time, I think I may have just targeted it wrong or something.

Franchise is very hard as we build our products from hand and hire them.
I know 2 other companies that have done the same and offered small packages .
One company has done one franchise and the other company has set up in 2 different areas.

Im not sure how you do this without a ton of travel to know the area and new venues etc.

Im at a loss at the moment.
My brain feels fried !

 

[Walter Hay]

Thanks

it’s a difficult task to change the name of the whole brand as it has been established for 8 years and I’m pretty sure google wouldn’t quite understand that.

Ive been thinking of separating the current company to keep all the props on one business and the rest onthe current.

Im not sure why it didn’t work last time, I think I may have just targeted it wrong or something.

Franchise is very hard as we build our products from hand and hire them.
I know 2 other companies that have done the same and offered small packages .
One company has done one franchise and the other company has set up in 2 different areas.

Im not sure how you do this without a ton of travel to know the area and new venues etc.

Im at a loss at the moment.
My brain feels fried !

8 years would definitely have won you some SEO ranking, so I agree about not changing the name now.

Because you make the letters, you have a good measure of control over quality if you do decide to franchise, because the agreement would include a clause requiring that all the letters etc., the franchisees would use for hiring out had to be bought from you.

Provided your prices for supplying them to franchisees are reasonable you should not fall foul of British Franchising Association. (BFA) The BFA administer a voluntary compliance scheme, and you need to comply with that.

You should be able to find venues via a Google search.

The franchises you set up can be quite small depending on area population etc.

Regards,
Walter

 

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[Jemmalee]

8 years would definitely have won you some SEO ranking, so I agree about not changing the name now.

Because you make the letters, you have a good measure of control over quality if you do decide to franchise, because the agreement would include a clause requiring that all the letters etc., the franchisees would use for hiring out had to be bought from you.

Provided your prices for supplying them to franchisees are reasonable you should not fall foul of British Franchising Association. (BFA) The BFA administer a voluntary compliance scheme, and you need to comply with that.

You should be able to find venues via a Google search.

The franchises you set up can be quite small depending on area population etc.

Regards,
Walter

thank you for your help and book.

this week o have started the build of another business.
I have branded it as a business to sell purely a few of my products to keep my current business corporate.
This one is fun and sparkly stuff so I can target the audiences correctly.