W06: Legal Structure

Navigating this week was a bit overwhelming for me.  The process figuring out the legal structure of your business, licenses needed and becoming tax complaint are enough to make my head spin.  I have thought about starting my own business for quite some time now but every time I get to the part of figuring out these three things, I give up on the idea because it just seems too complicated. 

As I went through this week's materials and began to research, I forced myself to push away my instinct to abandon the whole idea.  I pushed through and found the answers I needed.  It turns out that it's not as difficult as I thought.  It does require research and proper planning.  But as long as I am willing to do those two things, I should be able to figure out everything I need to begin my business.

I think the most surprising thing to me was how easy it is to get a business license.  My city has very specific guidelines about the type of license I would need and any inspections that I would be required to get.  The actual process of obtaining a license is just a matter of paying the licensing fee and filling out the application.  Once approved, I will just be required to pay the license renewal every year to maintain the license.

I don't anticipate going live with my business while I'm still in school, but my long-term plans of running my own business one day are definitely still alive and well thanks to this week's discoveries. 

W05: Site Design

I took a design class last year and dreaded having to do it.  It turns out that I really like the process of design.  I think the appeal of design for me is that it can involve both creative and logical thought.  For me, both elements are a must.  I like the creative process with colors and images and the stories they can tell together along with the.  But I also thrive on all things logical and having everything being visually organized.  Good design allows for both and designing a website is the perfect platform to implement a creatively organized idea. 

We also learned this week about processing credit card payments on our website.  We took a deep dive into PayPal and the options that they offer.  I have used PayPal for personal use, but I had never really considered it for business use.  I think it would be a good option to use while I my business is small.  If my business and volume does grow, I could then look at using a more powerful platform.  That would allow me the opportunity to negotiate for lower rates. 

Another payment platform that is very popular with young adults is Venmo.  As I was researching the options of offering Venmo as a payment option on my website, I learned that the company is owned by PayPal.   So, if I want to offer a Venmo payment option, I would need to use PayPal Checkout. 

As I am working on my own website, I will have to keep in mind all of the design principles I learned previously, website design trends that are coming up and and how the logical flow should be for my business and website.  I'm looking forward to see what I come up with. 

W04: Site Builder and Hosting

The people close to me have often mentioned that I have a difficult time making decisions.  I always brush it off and think they are completely wrong.  I am here to say that this week they are 100% correct!  Apparently, choosing a website builder and hosting service was a little a lot more difficult than I thought it would be!

I think the most difficult aspect of the decisions came from not knowing for sure what my needs were.  I haven't completely locked in my business so that made it difficult to determine which direction to go in.  Regardless of what I choose for a business model, I will just need the basics for now.  Of course, I want to meet the requirements of the upcoming assignments, but I also want a few other things as well such as a blog, multiple product pages and the ability to collect customer information.  

It was fun to go through the project to choose a business.  I think it helped give me some solid options, but I just have to really choose between an actual store or a blog with advertisement or affiliate marketing.   One good thing from completing this week's assignments, was as I was doing my research, I did discover that several of the website builders and hosting company offer affiliate marketing, so I tucked that information away for when I am ready to pursue that for my website.  

Now the task becomes finalizing decisions for my business model and then picking a website builder and hosting company that will fit those needs.  I'm pretty sure I have it all narrowed down, but just want to go over it all again because I certainly wouldn't want to make the wrong decision! 

W03: Sourcing the Product

I have been a buyer/purchaser for a small chain of retail stores for over 15 years, so I didn't think I would have much to learn this week.  I was sure wrong about that!  I have a lot of experience going to trade shoes, working with vendors to negotiate the lowest possible pricing and free freight deals.  It helps when you are buying for multiple brick & mortar stores to get better quantity discounts and to have the space needed to handle inventory.  When buying for a brick and mortar store, I feel confident in my knowledge and ability to get make good buying decisions.

I have some limited experience with Alibaba and direct importing.  Utilizing Alibaba is great for getting lower prices without always having to buy deep in one single product.  The downside is the shipping time and there are typically shipping costs involved, depending on the supplier.  Alibaba is great when you have planned for a purchase and have the time to wait.  Direct importing is even better than Alibaba, but you typically have to buy deep and it can take several months to receive the product.  Direct importing is great if you are patient, are good at forecasting and confident you can sell through what you've bought.  

What I have no knowledge about is drop shipping or affiliate marketing.  I was familiar with the concept of drop shipping and had looked into a few options for the company I work for.  But ultimately my boss decided that it was too much of a hassle at the time and we dropped the idea.  Researching a few drop shipping options this week made me realize that it isn't as difficult as it has seemed to me in the past.  One thing that was always vague to me was how much it would cost to start.  I found a great step-by-step guide here on how to modestly budget for a drop shipping business.  I found this very helpful.  

I'm still a little bit a lot shaky on affiliate marketing!  I understand the basic concept but I still have a difficult time understanding exactly how it works and how one can actually make a revenue off of it.  My best guess is that the more well established your website is and the more of a customer base you have, the better suited you are to utilize affiliate marketing.  

I still have a lot to learn when it comes to starting an online business, but I feel like I really rounded out my purchasing knowledge this week.  I hope that I will be able to utilize that knowledge as I move forward this semester and later as I attempt to start a business of my own.  

W02: Choosing A Business

Which came first...the chicken or the egg? 

Regardless of which side of this debate you stand on, compelling arguments can be made for both the chicken and the egg.  The same  can be said for the first steps of choosing a business.  Which should come first...a product or a business model?  Once again, compelling arguments can be made for both and success can be found with both approaches.  This week, I had to take a close look at which is the more correct choice.  I decided to that it would be more beneficial to zero in on a business model first.  I wouldn't necessarily choose that every time, but in this case, it seemed like the right choice.  Time will tell if I made the correct choice this time.

I think the most valuable thing I've learned this week was how start the research for a Google Ads campaign.  It is something that I've heard about and known was important to the success of an online business, but I was clueless on how to start it.  In addition to beginning the research on business through keyword searching, we have begun the process on how to do a deep dive on multiple business ideas.  We will gather multiple layers of information such as keywords, competition, demand, time commitment, difficulty levels and startup money required.  This exercise will help me analyze my ideas more objectively before I make a decision on how I want to proceed.

As I move forward in the semester, I am looking forward to learning things that are not only beneficial for this class, but also moving forward with any potential businesses I might want to try.