Starting you own Business "The Journal"

[AAAgent]

I see people making fitness journals, approach journals, and self improvement journals.

I will be the first to make a business journal which will document me on my way to starting my niche consulting business. I will go until i succeed or until the point i realize that it is an utter failure. I'm my mind, I no doubt believe this business can be successful.

I will document how people will attempt to put my business down, or point out the flaws in why it won't succeed.

I will document how i prepare and get things down, as well as the obstacles i overcome.

 

[AAAgent]

I have what it takes to do this. I started a business in the past though i wound it down, i made a profit and didn't take a loss.

I've final'd in college business competitions and have been praised for my creativity in the past. My major downfall is I am not organized, lack a sense of committed direction, and I am very inconsistent.

2 months ago i realized that i was designing special occasion idea's for friends and myself that they all loved. I then decided to do it for a living and set out on my way. I surveyed friends, friends of friends, co-workers, etc. about my new business idea and all received positive and negative feedback.

Women raved that they wanted their men to do things like this for them but the downside was they didn't want their man to have sought a consultant. The men who will be my clients gave mixed reviews. Almost all thought it was a viable business, i tried to get them to be as honest as possible. 80% said they believe there is a market but they believe they can come up with their own creative idea's. I then pitched them my past worked and they were amazed but still insisted they could do it themselves. I would expect nothing less of the majority of men who believe they can do almost anything themselves. Sadly, although they may be able to come up with a good idea, it would not be on the same caliber of my work. 15% of the men i surveyed said this was a great idea, and men in my target market (NYC) that don't have time, have disposable income, and are not all that creative may be interested in this. They wouldn't want their gf's knowing though. 5% said no at first since i didn't want to assist to setting up the planning of the idea's i created but i changed that as i opted to also help plant the special occasion as well.

*Note- I'm not doing event planning as this may sound like what i'm doing. I'm designing creative idea's for my clients that want to make a special occasion memorable.

Ex. Friend tells me he's seen this girl a few times and they are going out on a dinner date then going to the local school park. He wants to do something there to seal the deal but isn't sure what. They have been there before and he spills the beans as to how the interaction panned out previously.

If he goes on the swings she follows playfully. When he slides down the slide, she does so immediately after as well.

I put 2+2 together and i get =4

AAA: what else do they have in the area, as in playground equipment?
Friend: monkey bars, big jungle gym and rope climbing thing.
AAA: Do they have hopscotch?
Friend: What's hopscotch?
AAA: the numbers painted on the ground that go in one block, two block, one block, two blocks and have numbers 1-6 painted in them?
Friend: Yeah they do. why?
AAA: If you were to go through and jump through that, how long would it take her to follow you?
Friend: immediately.
AAA: perfect. You jump through the blocks and instead of finishing and jumping out, you jump up, turn around and open your arms wide open as if waiting for her to fall into your arms.

He thought it was amazing and he did it. Although she didn't jump into his actual arms, the gesture worked it's magic. She ran into his arms instead.

So being so busy, i taken notes on the business, feedback, things i need, how to approach clients, pay structure, but I was still all over the place and confused on what to tackle first, next, etc. Today i realized that i was so confused because i didn't write out a business plan/model. That is my next step, to align all my idea's in a nice format in my business plan. The plan does not need to be used to obtain financing, it just as a means to organize myself.

Round 1- Tackle the business plan

 

[FairShake]

I like your idea.

Sounds as though you should focus on females rather than males though. I realize females are usually better at coming up with date ideas and may not need your help but I could see this like being a wedding planner, event planner, or travel agent niche.

I just don't think guys would go in for this.

 

[AAAgent]

I just sat down and had a chat with a Sales Executive at my firm that started his own business. He likes my idea and thinks there's potential and gave me his web developer. He also said i should focus on:

Wedding anniversaries
Proposals
V-Day
Birthdays
Gift's
Letter writing
Make her your GF

I also found my direct competitor

http://www.theheartbandits.com/

It's owned by a female and i've heard/read her idea's and i have confidence i can do better. I just don't believe a woman knows how to woo a woman better than a man. We've been wooing women for thousands of years and i have confidence my creativity can outshine hers.
----------

My friend made a good point here:

Presentation is everything. You don't want people to think you're just some creepy dude who has all these romantic ideas but no one to use them on, you want them to think you are part of a legit business, right? You want them to look you up after they hear aabout you and find a smooth, clear website. Not some rinkydink one.
The first thing you did when you heard someone else had your idea? You Googled them aand made a snap judgement of their business based off of that website.


I did exactly that and found the website to be too feminine, showed no creativity and was cluttered with too much stuff. The idea's were fancy but in no way did they show creativity. She markets herself as selling an experience but i see myself as selling happiness.

well enough with bashing, if i think i can do better i should show it.

 

[backbreaker]

if there isn't a market for something, create one lol. seriously. It's your job to make people realize why they need your services.


that website is a stanard run of the mill wordpress based website. which is why I don't like using templates. that's a tempted website, hell I even think i know what template that is, think they got it off template-monster

this is a woman I know pretty well, compare that site to this

http://www.cookiesinthejar.org/


and hell I am not really crazy about her site, but it blows the first site out of the water. this is what you get when you put the correct resources into your web presence

 

[AAAgent]

this is exactly what i wanted to do with my site. thanks for posting that.

it's a little too much clutter for me but i like it. I like the simpleness of the developers site, Hatton Designs and may reach out to them.

 

[Stud]

Sorry if I missed it, but how are you going to make money doing this?

 

[NorwegianDJ]

Can it be automated?

 

[AAAgent]

maybe it's not clear or you're a cynic either way is fine. I believe in myself and that's what that matters.

I plan on selling my niche consulting services. I'm still want to work out the kinks as i don't want to necessarily sell my idea's to my clients but i want to allow them to use them.

Not only will i be providing them with an idea but I will also handle any logistics regarding the execution of the idea. Planning out where, when, how, and setting everything in place. I guess you can call it dynamic event planning.

----

NorwegianDJ

This can't be automated as creativity can't be automated. My advice to you is to work hard at something everyday but before you can do that you need to find something that you can devote your time to. Find something your good at or something that can make people's lives easier. Do that and start to charge people for it.

Before you do that you need to map out a strategy on how you can tackle this efficiently, how you will charge them and how you will reach out to them. Don't be afraid to fail either.

Don't think of easy money as that will come when you have money.

 

[synergy1]

Automation is best left towards tedious repetitive tasks which take up time, but require no ingenuity. The core concept of this idea in no way could be automated.

I gotta say, I like the creativity. My question is how much money can be made from originating ideas and packaging them. How much are people willing to pay to not have to do this themselves? ( not asking hypothetically, I really do not know). For me, I don't mind planning some stuff, but maybe that will change when im working more than I am now. E.g if I am spending 200 dollars to defer the effort, it'd better be worth more than if I spend 200 dollars on something sick. You might not be targeting demographics like me though.

Good luck. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. okay, maybe quoting chairman Mao isn't the best idea, but its a little inspirational

 

[Stud]

I agree with synergy1. How much would you charge for your hopscotch idea? Do you have tiers set up, like date planning is x amount, proposal planning y amount, on the date idea is z amount? Do guys really have this much trouble planning dates or thinking of ways to get a girl to hug them? I am not being a cynic, these are real questions to determine the viability of your business.

Do you have a set list of ideas and they get to pick one? Whats to stop a guy from listening to your ideas, saying no, then using them? Not a lot of protection for you.

How do you even market yourself? Almost like a Hitch? If you build a very good image for yourself then you may be ok, but i can't see it making enough money to last that long. That will make the biggest difference.

It's cool you are starting a business and it all seems exciting, but this does not seem like a business that will make enough money for you to live on, especially in nyc.

 

[AAAgent]

I've tackled (in the process of tackling) everything you listed Stud and thanks for the encouragement. I won't answer pricing as that is confidential and probably wouldn't be wise for me to do publicly.

Guys do have trouble planning dates and if you've read the dj discussion forum over the last 6 years you've been here you would have noticed that by now. Generally i aim to help my clients capture that single moment whether it be asking the girl out, proposing, an anniversary, birthday, etc. and make that an everlasting memory that's once in a lifetime. I can plan entire dates but that would just be a waste of their money as dates are more about flow which most possess the skills to keep a norma conversation.

My goal has always been to help the guy give the girl butterflies or like pook said, make her feel like a little girl again.

Nowadays the way a guy ask's out a girl is "lets watch a movie at my place." and when you do that enough and sleep with her, she assumes she's your girlfriend. Another method is the "will you be my girlfriend?" sure it might be cute when your 10 years old but it gets kind of creepy after that.

I'm providing men with the opportunity to make their significant other feel like their the only one in the world and ontop of that, the only one in the world that's ever been asked out, proposed, etc. that way. The girl was basically chasing him and i set it up so she chased him right into his arms. Ontop of all that, i make the whole experience for both the client and their significant other smooth, relaxing and memorable by planning it all out for them.

Now whether it's afc or not that's another story and i guess its how you handle it afterwards.

as for whether this is viable and enough to support, read my other post's carefully.

 

[AAAgent]

I have been working on outlining my business structure and have been using a past competition template as a example. I'm using a past paper that got me into the finals as a reference and trying to replicate my strengths in that paper keeping everything short and to the point. This way my idea's are formulated in a very comprehensive yet succinct way.

Topics required to be covered in the paper that must be less than 1,500 words and 3 pages are:

BUSINESS CONCEPT:Check
TARGET MARKET: Check
SERVICE DESCRIPTION: Check (may need to be edited)
CREATING A BUSINESS: In progress
BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY: Incomplete
CRITICAL ISSUES: Incomplete

The progress i have made this week has been checked off.

 

[BigJimbo]

SoSuave is where the great business ideas of 2012 will be launched! I am loving this place more and more!

You should shoot video and post it of yourself following your dreams. Such a video might inspire someone like me to get up and JUST DO IT!

 

[AAAgent]

Can't tell if you're serious but if you are thanks for the compliments. Weekly youtube video's is actually part of my marketing/advertising strategy along with a twitter account, facebook, LinkedIn and relationship/dating advice forums like this as well as search engine optimization.

 

[Stud]

I think we will have to agree to disagree on this one. Wish you well though.

One final point. After looking at a bit more, guys are pretty clueless when it comes to women, as this forum demonstrates. This forum has been helpful to thousands of guys in getting their lives together. This forum is also free and aside from ad revenue, probably does little to their bottom line. How many members would be here if the price was $4.95 per month? $9.95? $19.95? The numbers would drop less and less.

I do not dispuite the fact that there are a lot of guys out there that need help with many areas of their lives, dating just being one small aspect. However, I disagree that it will be able to be monetized effectively to sustain a business.

Either way, good luck and I look forward to hearing your progress. After you open up, I would like to see some P&L reports, even if they are round numbers and not revealing of your price scheme.

 

[Atom Smasher]

I encourage you to go for it, AAAgent.

If it works out, then great. If not, you will be much better positioned for your next venture, and you will be on a different level for having gone through the process. This might be your ultimate success, or it might be a rung on the ladder to your success.

Either way, you can't lose. Go get 'em, man.

 

[AAAgent]

Thanks Atom for the heads up.

I'm not a guy that likes to stay in the same position for too long. I have to keep moving and elevating myself to higher levels or i get bored and unsatisfied.

This is definitely not my first or last venture. I actually just secured a partner for my next venture which we will actively pursue in 2012. That venture will require much more work, money, and time. So far that concept seems viable, needed, and has a lot more lucrative potential. Generally their all my idea's and i plan to hit one of them big.

Stud as for this idea, you may be right if i was targeting the entire male population/demographic. I'm not. My target market is NYC. Below is my target market description i wrote out which is part of my business plan outline to stay on track and focused.

TARGET MARKET:
Our focus market will be catered to busy New Yorkers that lack the time and creative resources to design unique special events. Although our target market is New York and our physical location limits our in-person planning to New York, our services will still be available to other locations. We aim to target New Yorkers who have expendable income by providing a unique everlasting memory for both their significant other and themselves while making the entire experience seamless, smooth and stress free. Stand up Eight! is a niche service but does have a direct known competitor called “TheHeartBandits” (www.theheartbandits.com). We plan to distinguish ourselves from our competitors by providing a different angle of insight (a male perspective), adapting experience from creative competitions & writing, having a focused market/faster response time, and past proven personal experience. Stand up Eight! plans on to establish its flagship office in the heart of Manhattan.

----


I plan to only spend roughly $3k max on this business which includes incorporating it as an LLC. As of now llc seems like the most rationale business structure as i have no partners or other shareholders and it limits my losses to just basically the website itself. I may also by/build a separate computer to store all client files on it. I doubt there will be any reasons for legal issues but should anything happen, i will only really lose the work computer which is no dent in the pocket.

I don't plan on hitting the jack pot with this business. I do plan to break even and make a profit while stimulating my creative potential and possible giving me more disposable income to spend and to use towards other ventures. It's also a nice productive thing to do on free time and build up my resume. 2 years ago when i first graduated and couldn't find a job, i spent my time preparing for business competitions and finaled. I still kept applying and all the subsequent interviews always asked about what i did and what was it like.

I would bring them the exact paper that i wrote out that finaled. I also worked on another pharmaceutical drug statistic project which sparked interest. That one after building a team of 3 people and working about 4-5 hours a day on it (including applying to jobs and working 8-9 hour days), the project/business hit a dead end as the results weren't consistent. They were very promising though. I tried to separate all the drug costs to market, profit, ROI, by scrowering through all the sec filings. Sadly only the very small companies split up costs by drugs since they had so few. J&J has so many drugs they lumped them into large groups in their 10-Q's/K's that i couldn't split them up. I tried emailing and calling asking for a split but they said they couldn't do it.

I have failed many times with idea's that were clearly not thought out properly do to inexperience, lack of planning, etc. This is not one of them. My overhead cost is minimal. The only thing i really stand to lose is some time...but i believe if this venture doesn't work out i will still gain heaps of experience as failure is only a path towards success, my success.

While people are out here reading this and hoping I fail or assuming i fail. I'm out there failing and learning from everyone of my mistakes so i can succeed. THat's worst case scenario, best case scenario is that i succeed. Then this will be the inspiration to the haters and believers to get off their asses. This is also inspiration for myself to not give up and slack as i tend to get sidetracked with so many idea's and lose motivation from time to time.

Stud---

How many people here do you believe besides reading the dj bible, actually are going out there and approaching, failing, working on their conversation skills, and have girlfriends/wives/etc. I'd say a very minuscule percentage of people actually make benefit of this site. Although it's a very small percentage a small percentage is a great feat compared to no percentage. This site set out to help people and its helped 100's of people probably out of the thousands that are frequenting it though. A lot of these people are too scared to do anything and are somehow finding the courage to battle that. Most will never win the battle but we can always be hopeful.

 

[Quiksilver]

... We've been wooing women for thousands of years ...

Try millions! 1.2 million years to be precise, if the word 'we' is further defined.

That is, unless the word "Take" was replaced by the word "Woo" in the past few thousand years, then you are correct.

 

[AAAgent]

Draft done for the paper.

Next up is finishing the draft/edit, working on the contract and how i want the website to look.