My first start-up, who will help me save a few $K on my website?

[Mike A.B.]

This is it! I am going to earn my first paycheck in my own business, and I'm going to do it online!:smx1:

Does it follow the 5 F.L. Commandments? Kinda...
Entry isn't very easy but it also doesn't require a lot of money.
Control, I can keep in control but I will have to work with one or more manufacturers/distributors.
Scale, It's a website with small, lightweight products so is it scalable? Absolutely!
Time, It will take time to set-up and perfect. Once it's finished it can be automated. (using online systems and a distribution system

So where does that leave the most important part of the CENTS list? Need...

There isn't really a big need for this product but I do know people who would buy this if it was easy to buy and inexpensive.

As you can see this business is probably NOT going to make me a fastlane millionaire, But I think it IS a good way to start your very first business right?:huh2:

Now, for that not so needed but fun product I will be selling... It's a product that's allready out there but there isn't a site that is actually dedicated to this theme. The plan is to sell customizable products like t-shirts, mugs etc. (This has been done a million times, I know.) with the theme as a twist. There won't be any copyright problems and I allready have enough images to print on the products.

!Example!
Let's say that I want to start a themed webshop for "Ice age 4" (And let's pretend I am allowed to!)
[video=youtube;Hf74Sp0Xe6Q]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf74Sp0Xe6Q[/video]

My target group (In this example: kids) will be able to select an ice age image, and place it on a t-shirt or a mug. Then they will be able to rotate or mirror the image and size it. After this they can repeat the same steps for additional images or text. Of course it has to be possible to select a product, a size/type/shape and a color etc.

When a product is finished you can add it to your cart and make another product, share your shirt for example on various social media pages, buy your products via various payment methods.
End of example!

So how will I achieve this without spending a lot of money?

The plan:
I will have to find a supplier who is willing to do a lot of work for me because in best case scenario they would have to create and send the products to my clients for me! It can sound a little farfetched but bear with me for a second.

Best case scenario: I find a supplier that has one or more of the products I want to sell and print and the abillity to print them. I convince the supplier to "blind ship" for me (some sort of drop shipping). I will have set-up a site with a t-shirt design tool in advance or I had it get set up for me.

The next step would be marketing the hell out of it the cheapskate way (Social media) + some various ads on sites where I know my target group hangs around.

(Possible) problems

The website.
I am no webdesigner and I have never set-up a tool like this before. I will probably need to buy a tool like this that I can easily integrate into an ecommerce platform like Magento. I know it exists but it is way to overpriced if you ask me. I will need the enterprise edition which costs $2.995,- /Y to be able to integrate the tool. Then I will need the tool itself which costs $1.399,-.

The supplier
It may be hard to convince a supplier to keep inventory, print the product, send the product to my customer AND keep his own name out of it while adding a flyer from MY business all for a reasonable compensation.

Who wants to earn some REP++ and some thanks??

Please let me know what you think about this plan! If you have any kind of advice on how to overcome one of the above stated problems or if you foresee some other issues please reply! I will think you are awesome if you do so!:hl:

I would really appreciate any kind of advice, tips, opinions and other valuable contributions and I WILL thank you or rep you for your reply if it was truly usefull or provided me with insight.

Thanks!
Thank you for reading this lengthy post! I hope everyone has had a merry christmas, I wish everyone all the best on their fast lane endeavors and a happy new-year!!
:fireworks::fastlane:

Best regards,
Mike

 

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[rocksolid]

Ok, lets start with the idea. In the example you gave, it's kids that are buying the product. Most kids don't have permission to buy things on the net and also don't usually have a paypal account. So that being said it seems the adults would be your target so you have to find a way to target them. Maybe you could team up with a party planner and offer your products for them to offer to theiur clients. Birthday party's, Bar mitzvah, babies first birthday, ect. It would be a high end givaway to offer a shirt that has a theme on it and the words " I was at davids birthday" or it could have a picture of the baby for a 1st birthday party, or you could offer mugs or key chains. Bouncer party's are popular these days so maybe you could team up with one of them.

Supplier........ I think it will be hard to get your best case scenario, you might want to find a local supplier who can do the work for you and then you would go and pick it up from them and pack it yourself. This way you have control and you don't have to pay him anything extra then his service.

 

[Mike A.B.]

Rocksolid, Thanks for the reply!

You're right, adults are my target! (maybe I gave a bad example by using kids..) To be more exact I'm aiming at 20 to 25 year olds. I like the idea of going to party's and giving away a few items, there might even be a nice Joint venture possibility that way..

I do know there are manufacturers who work as dropshippers and sent the packages for you if you pay the right price, but maybe you're right. If so, it won't be a big problem to ship the items myself but it will delay the process though... and take out a bit of the automation idea..

Thanks for your reply! (Speed + Thanks, as promised )

Who else can provide me with some insight? Every single bit of help is appreciated!

 

[Mike A.B.]

OK, so for the website I have found various options. They all LOOK the same and are all way too expensive, I'm starting to get the feeling this is easy to copy for a webdeveloper but hard for a newbie like me...

Now for the supplier angle.... I haven't contacted suppliers yet, I want to be sure I have found the right tools and built the right strategy before I contact them. Does anyone have some good pointers on how to convince them to go through the extra trouble I'm asking them for?

(end of bump^^)

 

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[rocksolid]

You are going to need to offer money. That is the only way I can think of. Do you have any samples of your work? You may need to find a company that can do the work for you so you have some samples to show off to prospects. Get a customer, that is how you will know if this is really a business or not.

 

[Mike A.B.]

You are going to need to offer money.

I plan to... The best way would be to offer x amount of money per product + the regular price to cover the dropshipping costs.

Right now I'm planning to have one or two shirts printed + another product. I could wear a t-shirt or show a product to the supplier/manufacturer.

Get a customer, that is how you will know if this is really a business or not.

I will go and do that, this will probably be my second next step (First i'm determining which tool/ecommerce platform I will use). I'll have some samples made as I said above and I will show them to people and ask what they think, if they would buy one, and if they actually WANT to buy one. If so, I can tell the manufacturer that I know there is a "niche" market.

Speed+thanks

 

[mrgodlike]

Have you looked into Shopify — Online Store Software & Hosted Ecommerce Solutions ? Looks like it'll be able to do the ecommerce stuff you're looking into.

Also as far as dropshipppers, avoid alibaba. I've heard of a ton of people getting scammed by them.

dhgate.com is a lot more safe, it's more similar to ebay, and some sellers even specialize in selling a small amount of items (1-5 pieces) instead of making you buy 200 lots etc. They also escrow and require paypal, so it adds a layer of protection over moneygramming or western union'ing/ ACH/TT transfering your cash over to some chinese scammer.

Social media would be a great way to promote your site. Look into making a Facebook Page that is updated regularly. Run deals on the page and also add a "facebook connect" option for access to becoming a member of your site.

 

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