Advice on starting an online business

[The Lillster]

Hello,

I am a web designer intrested in starting my own internet business.

I have been intrested in doing this for awhile now, and i'm just wandering if anyone here could offer me advice/ point me in the right direction?

Thanks :)

[theguyfromspark]

Unless you have an original idea that is Ip protected and difficult to copy, I wouldn't bother to be honest. It's too risky.

[ZeldaFreak]

Why not sell somthing like start an amazon shop or something like that

[The Lillster]

Unless you have an original idea that is Ip protected and difficult to copy, I wouldn't bother to be honest. It's too risky.

Ok, but do you know of any websites/ forums that specialize in this area, so at least I could see if the idea is feasible or not?

I'm mainly looking for a guide, i.e what works, why it works, what doesn't work and why it doesn't work.

So basicly I want as much help as possible and where I can get it.

Also a list of skills I might need would be helpful. :)

Why not sell somthing like start an amazon shop or something like that

I'd love to do something like that, but I came here because I have no experiance in business, only I.T and Webdesign/ Graphics. So I still need to learn a few things before I start an online shop, probably a lot actually. But I am very intrested in doing this, I just need a guide/advice.

[laura_inthesky]

buy low sell high

[DCK]

Ehm, the fact that you have to ask advice on a Nintendo forum doesn't make me very optimistic about your future business' potential :heh:

[The Lillster]

buy low sell high

What happens if you buy low, and after it just keeps going lower and lower?

Ehm, the fact that you have to ask advice on a Nintendo forum doesn't make me very optimistic about your future business' potential :heh:

LoL, obviously i'm not going to start a business this exact second.

The main reason why I posted it here, is because I know who's advice I can trust. And I was hopeing somebody would post a list of websites/ forums which deal with this kind of thing.

But thanks for your concern. :)

[Cube]

Theres lots of good information here (http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=online+business+start)

[DCK]

Well, internet stuff isn't usually big business. What kind of business do you want to start? A shop? Custom web design?

[The Lillster]

Well, internet stuff isn't usually big business. What kind of business do you want to start? A shop? Custom web design?

I'm not 100% sure of what kind of online business I want to start yet.

As I have said above, I am here because I need a guide, not because I want to start a business this exact second!

And yes I know internet stuff isn't really big business, that is why I am intrested in it, i'd rather cater to a niche market.

[Ginger_Chris]

1. Make Website
2. ???
3. Profit!

[The Lillster]

1. Make Website
2. ???
3. Profit!

LOL Why did you even bother posting in here?

If nobody is going to take this seriously, then don't even bother posting in here.

If you want to post BS like that then try this thread: http://n-europe.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5205

[laura_inthesky]

What happens if you buy low, and after it just keeps going lower and lower?


Then whatever stock it is you're buying will become cheaper and cheaper to buy, enabling you to pass the savings onto your customers when you sell it; increasing your competitiveness. Or you could keep the selling price the same and the reduction in your production costs will increase your gross profits.

[theguyfromspark]

Ok, but do you know of any websites/ forums that specialize in this area, so at least I could see if the idea is feasible or not?


What area? What idea?

The problem is, if I was an expert brick layer I couldn't just decide that I'm going to build a shop and start a business in it and expect it to be sucessful. You need to approach the start of a business with the idea of what the business does to make money, is there a significant market in the area of choice and is the competition too fierce. If you create a "me too" online business that just emulates one of the sucessful companies (amazon, google, ebay etc), expect it to fail.
If you're a web designer by trade, consider being a designer for hire, many small businesses will give you a decent price for a prefab website to promote their wares. Design the best looking site you can to promote your work, show as many examples of different websites as you can and get businesses to email you with their requirements for design. Then promote like mad using things like Google Ad-words.

[The Lillster]

Then whatever stock it is you're buying will become cheaper and cheaper to buy, enabling you to pass the savings onto your customers when you sell it; increasing your competitiveness. Or you could keep the selling price the same and the reduction in your production costs will increase your gross profits.

This is the exact type of advice I am looking for.

Thank You very much! :)

[theguyfromspark]

So you're going to make an online business that buys and sells stock?

[or else you will DIE]

trade me ur pokemanz~

[The Lillster]

So you're going to make an online business that buys and sells stock?

I don't know yet, i'm looking into multiple things, to see which type of business suites me.

[Cube]

This is the exact type of advice I am looking for.

Thank You very much! :)

My link before has some good sites.

I work for an online software retail company (Which consists of my boss and me), so I may be able to answer some questions you may have.

One thing you could do first is start on eBay/Amazon Marketplace, upgrade to an eBay store, then start promoting your online shop.

[Charlie]

If you're going for web design I would recommend looking at www.sitepoint.com

They have loads of articles on starting up a business in it and things like that.

[The Lillster]

My link before has some good sites.

I work for an online software retail company (Which consists of my boss and me), so I may be able to answer some questions you may have.

One thing you could do first is start on eBay/Amazon Marketplace, upgrade to an eBay store, then start promoting your online shop.

Yeh, thanks for the list, I havn't had a chance to look through them thoroughly yet though.

How would I find a seller/supplier, and negotiate a good business deal?

[Fields]

So, you want to start a business, but you don't know what sort of business? A good piece of advice I could give you is to go away and come back when you've given this some more thought. You can't expect other people to do it for you.

In all honesty though, and even better piece of advice would be to just not bother. Because, frankly, you don't sound very capable.

[Shino]

Fields is right, you need more than just wanting to be rich.

[Cube]

How would I find a seller/supplier, and negotiate a good business deal?

Fist you need to find what you want to sell. Then the key is reasearch, find out prices from companies that sell, then find some distributors. (Just bung '[product] distributor' into google).

Also, do stuff like including keywords in the page's header, good for google searches. (Bung 'PC Software' into Google UK and click "I'm feeling lucky". I was very suprised when I found out).

[Katie]

Like others have said your best bet is to start on ebay, or have both. It's a good way to get interest from buyers and give you experience in selling. You might also find some helpful e-books on there.

The most important thing is competition, make sure you have a good chance of profit against the competition before investing in anything.

[AshMat]

What's the idea?

[The Lillster]

[To the people who doubt I have the ability to run a business of any sort]

You are probably right, I don't have the skills to start my own business (maybe I never will), but i'm certainly not going to just give up because things get tough.

I know one entrepreneur who worked his ass off for 5 years, and he still hasn't really got anywhere, so I know the risks.

My idea is very risky, but at least I can do the first part with low funds.

[Fields]

My idea
...which is?

[The Lillster]

...which is?

I don't really want to tell you my idea, because you would probably think it is stupid and impossible, but if you must know, the first step would involve building up an online community, but I don't know what I want my website to be about yet, In other words I don't know what I want to sell yet, but I have contemplated selling gardening stuff or maybe selling something that isn't that popular but has the possibility to be popular later on.

Is this what you mean by 'my idea'? As in what i'm going to sell, and how i;m going to do it?

Just out of curiosity (i'm not trying to be rude) how do you know what it takes to build a business? The way you told me to not bother, seemed like you have done this before?

Btw, I'm not planning on starting up my own business to get rich (although that would be nice :D) The main reason why I want to do it is because I want to be my own boss.

[Shino]

We don't doubt your abilities, but even if Bill Gates came here saying that he wants to build a business without what he wants to sell, we would be pretty skeptic too.

[The Lillster]

We don't doubt your abilities, but even if Bill Gates came here saying that he wants to build a business without what he wants to sell, we would be pretty skeptic too.

That is true, but the reason why I posted this topic was to get an idea of what kind of skills I might need.

It's mainly business training that i'm looking into.

Learn Direct do a business course, so I might look into that.

If anyone knows of any other training options(besides going to uni), I would very much appreciate that.

[Fields]

I don't doubt you have the ability to succeed, it's just that you don't seem to know what you're doing yet. The first stage towards setting up a business is to have a clear idea of what you want to do. Start worrying about how you're going to do it later.

You're right though, I don't have much experience of this myself so perhaps I shouldn't be trying to give advice.

[AshMat]

Everyone has the ability to succeed with stuff like this, you just have to stick to it. See what kind of stuff is getting more popular days, do some market research.

[THE ganondorflol]

Hello,

I am a web designer intrested in starting my own internet business.

I have been intrested in doing this for awhile now, and i'm just wandering if anyone here could offer me advice/ point me in the right direction?

Thanks :)

Some advice: don't bother.

[The Lillster]

Some advice: don't bother.

Some question: Why?

[The Bard]

Some question: Why?

Don't listen to him, he's a complete ass. I think you should go and think this over very carefully and give us some broader detail about what kind of business you think you would like to run, because the skills you need could end up being very specific.