Soldato
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Industrial heaters and heating equipment.
new business
- Thread starter DAIR
- Start date
Industrial heaters and heating equipment.
Soldato
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Yeah with my brother in law, we turned over nearly 200k in November but Im chuffed that the store has taken off as its the third time ive launched it and the first time online has had any success for us.
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Hehhe.
He is very negative...that's for sure.
One thing about running a business is that you must be an optimist. You have to be. Otherwise at the first sign of trouble, you will bail out and shut down operations.
I remember the guy from Innocent smoothies was at the end of his tether. He was contemplating shutting down operations. He said that he sent out emails to a huge mailing list. One person answered and gave him funding. The rest as they say, is history.
What I'm saying is that you have to be determined and be prepared for knock-backs. If after a single knock-back you decide to "give up" business is not for you and it's probably best you work for someone, rather than run a business of your own.
Being risk averse, certainly is not a trait for a businessman. You have to be a gambler. A risk taker. Only the risk takers are rewarded, in business.
Business is all about risk:reward ratiio. There is ALWAYS a risk when starting up a new business.
OP, as a businessman, there will be many people who suggest that you give up - least of all people on a forum. But, it is ultimately your decision...not theirs. You know a lot more about YOUR business than they do. Just remember that.
Anyway, good luck man.
if he is confident buy it on credit cards!
Has really good information about new businesses
Soldato
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Well, its obviously seasonal/weather dependant, id be delighted if we made that on the web every month but in reality, we will only do that on a good winters month.
My problem just now is how much to spend on google adwords, I have been tweaking my amounts each day and gone through a campaign strategy with google, Ill have to gamble and massively increase my adwords from £40-50 a day (which is getting used up by 9-10am) to £200 a day but then I still may see no change, the figures I have done were mostly without using adwords at all.
When it goes really cold Ill pop it up and take a gamble for a couple of days to see what can happen, trial and error.
That's what I would do.
There are plenty of 0% for 12 month, deals going on. £5k is not much and if you are clever, you can borrow £5k for very little interest/fees.
Somehow though, I think the OP needs more money as he didnt factor in advertising costs.
This *1000000000000000000000000000
Soldato
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I would ask if you actually need to buy stock, do you have any sort of relationship with the providers of the stock you are getting, depending on what you will be selling, it can be a case of just ordering as you get an order and have the manufacturer or supplier supply direct to your customers. I keep no stock.
Permabanned
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Yes thats the one.
He went an elite private school and his parents are educated business people.
Hardly an anyone can do it situation.
I'd say you're right. I spent much of the weekend looking up the various advertising avenues and making adjustments to the business plan.
I see someone has mentioned dropshipping
. I looked into this a few years ago. It didn't seem worth while.... Perhaps I had been in contact with the wrong suppliers.
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
Assuming you can negotiate a good contract with a supplier - and this is a huge caveat because its quite difficult - dropshipping is fantastic for a business thats starting small. It removes much of the risk - you don't need to hold stock to satisfy orders, unless your supplier requires as part of your contract a guaranteed minimum order value (Which a few might) then if you've done the maths horribly wrong and your demand is, say, just a third of what you thought it was you are not holding a load of stock you cannot shift. Similarily, if you are selling a product that has quite a fluctuating price you can immediatly respond to changes in pricing without needing to worry about what you paid for your current inventory.
The difficulty is getting a decent relationship with a supplier.
[TW]Fox;20779826 said:
Yeah, I know how they work.
Problem was the profit margin was too poor. Like you said perhaps it would've been better if I were on good terms with the supplier or if we were able to put together a credible agreement.
But you are trading risk for a reduced profit.
As with all things, the higher the risk, the higher the reward. Anything you can do to reduce risk in the early stages of a new venture is a good thing.
The other thing to remember is that almost zero new businesses make any real profit in the first few years. At the early stage its all about building a sustainable base rather than making a pile of cash in the first year, two years or whatever.
Perhaps the reduced profit margin offered by dropshipping might enable you to guage a practical knowledge of exactly what the level of demand is - something you can build on when you decide to move into stockholding yourself having actual real sales figures to back up any decisions you make.
As with all things, the higher the risk, the higher the reward. Anything you can do to reduce risk in the early stages of a new venture is a good thing.
The other thing to remember is that almost zero new businesses make any real profit in the first few years. At the early stage its all about building a sustainable base rather than making a pile of cash in the first year, two years or whatever.
Perhaps the reduced profit margin offered by dropshipping might enable you to guage a practical knowledge of exactly what the level of demand is - something you can build on when you decide to move into stockholding yourself having actual real sales figures to back up any decisions you make.
Soldato
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It doesn't necessarily mean that drop shipping would lead to a reduced margin, it makes no difference to my suppliers if I buy 1 item and have them send it straight to my customer or 20 items up front, the discounts are the same, the only difference is reduced carriage for more items.
Metalface, I think you have negotiated yourself a good deal with your supplier.
It could also be that your supplier wants to shift stock, no matter what. Your supplier wants volume. Some suppliers have many many retailers clambering to sell their goods, in which case the supplier can name their terms.
My friend runs an electronics business and I know that for electronics, the supplier is king and they dictate the terms. The problem for him is that on ebay there are so many powersellers who are shifting 1000s of units per day, that for a startup to enter the market and get a good deal with the supplier is tough.
Once again, without knowing what the OP is selling it is very difficult to say much.
It could also be that your supplier wants to shift stock, no matter what. Your supplier wants volume. Some suppliers have many many retailers clambering to sell their goods, in which case the supplier can name their terms.
My friend runs an electronics business and I know that for electronics, the supplier is king and they dictate the terms. The problem for him is that on ebay there are so many powersellers who are shifting 1000s of units per day, that for a startup to enter the market and get a good deal with the supplier is tough.
Once again, without knowing what the OP is selling it is very difficult to say much.