Hello, my pretties. This chica here just sucked it up and bought the equipment. I'm going to do it, this thing I've been thinking about for three years. I would appreciate comments, criticisms, etc., about how I'm going about this.
History. Had own services business for ten years. Excelled, rose to the top. Fun, but getting boring. Started fooling around with ebay on an experiment with some Lance Armstrong items (I lived in Austin and so did he). It went extremely well. Branched out on ebay and brought in good vacation and "extras" money, and had tons of fun. (Still had my real business.) After about a year (and getting bored with ebay), I noticed a phenomenal marketing statistic about one of my products. I checked it out and sure enough, my biggest profit item (though small) was also my best seller by far. I started doing research on other people's similar items and the sales rates are phenomenal. I started noticing niches that were ignored but popular (ebay turns out to be a fantastic marketing research tool) and did some experimenting. I turned out to be right. I did more market research (with live people) and it turns out that the results of the research I'd already done was borne out. I already knew what these people wanted. I'm right. I think.
So I bought the equipment and the supplies. I plan to (cheaply) manufacture, on my property, small runs of test items. I will market those test items (on ebay and on my own website) and when I have a hit, I will outsource the production of that item for a larger quantity. At some point soon I will have to outsource the order fulfillment as well. But I get ahead of myself - the equipment is still in the box.
Here's where I am.
Legal - taking care of proper licensing, registrations, etc.
Business Plan - in the process of finishing up - constant revising
Learn to excel at production - in classes, plan to start production in October.
Things I know I need but don't know quite what to use to accomplish the best results:
Bookkeeping - I need a program that's super simple but can run a bit of analysis. NO experience in this area but quick learner. Suggestions?
Website Development - I need some information in this area. I need an e-commerce site that is easy to use. I will be filling several niches. Should I have separate sites specializing in those areas, or one large site with different sections? I am fairly computer illiterate.
***Newbie question of the day: What is the best way to find and set up an e-commerce site. I have purchased the domain names I want.
Search Engine Hits - the reason I came to this site in the first place - to learn about the subject of how you get your website to come up in the first few pages of a search. I could really use any information or references to learning sources you might have.
So what am I forgetting to take care of?
Thanks.
How am I doing? What do I need?
Hybrid Mode
