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Making money online?
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09-11-2008 8:53pm#1
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Haha, I make a lot of money trading online buy why would I post it up here how I do it!?!?!?! Are you having a laugh!?!?!
:D:D
wow, someones in need rectal surgery to remove their head from a trapped position.
My dear old grandmother used to say "If you have nothing good to say, say it to people who think your great and will kiss your ass because you pay them too!"0 -
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redroar1942 wrote: »Thanks for that Mickk one of the best posts I've read in months.
Your going to have to bit the bullet on staff if you want to keep expanding. I think you know it too. Your saving €1000 per week but how much would extra staff earn you? Just a minor critisim , well done though.
In the words of the worlds biggest sportswear company : "Just do it"
Had a look at the site. It does highlight the beauty of internet selling. If you find the right product.
Really like that you have your company name cast on the weights. The cars not bad either.
Yea if I had a skills/services based company or even just sourced the products locally I would go ahead and expand now, the problem is that I get it all in china, so as it stands now, it takes them 6-8 weeks to manufacture the order with half (often around 40k) paid before production starts and then the other half when its completed (still 5 weeks away plus customs) then pay the vat, duty and shipping before I get the stuff.
I started in a lockup around 50 sq m while the website was taking longer than expected to get finished (and while elavon completely ****ed me around on the merchant account) and started selling through classifieds ect. in july last year.
I moved into a 100sq m warehouse with pallet racking for 100 pallets in november last year to coincide with the site finally going live and due to the demand had to move to a 250 sq m warehouse this january, it has 230 pallet spaces. Its a slow process to build up to a point where I have enough cash in the bank and also have the room and demand to fill a container and then wait three months for it! Its sort of a catch 22, basically if I did have the two extra staff I would do a higher turnover but I dont think with the 3 month delay and financial circumstances I could fulfill all the extra orders. I am sort of just going to let the dust settle and learn the buying trends a bit more before I do take the plunge and expand with more staff and proper advertising...
It also doesn't help the cashflow that I bought another silly car (in late june just before the vrt went up) to go with the one on the site
Funny you mention "just do it", in the late 80's nike had a 18% market share while reebok had around 40-50% share. Recession struck in 88 and america was in a bad way (so I heard!) while reebok decided to do like most, hold off on expansion, make cuts ect. nike decided to press on, they spent massive amounts on marketing and advertising campaigns (thats when "just do it" was first coined), they came out of the recession with a 45% market share while reebok was down to ~20% and has never recovered. The recession is a great time to expand because you get everything so much cheaper than for example during the celtic tiger, advertising, rents (thankfully these days key money is nearly a thing of the past), shop fits, builders actually ring you back and quote fairly ect.
I am tempted to open a few bricks and mortar shops, I always keep an eye on commercial properties availability and price and a few lately have really tempted me. At the moment with all the doom and gloom and alot of businesses going out of business there are some amazing deals to be had, the rent will be fixed for 5 years and when its reviewed you are in a strong negotiating point. If you can make money now, when things go mad again you can be in position to make a mint...
The thing that really interests me is how the business world is evolving with the internet and where does a website fit into a bricks and mortar business. What some would consider as my competition in the health foods business is a perfect example of this, he has three shops and last year developed a website. I'd imagine his dilemma was to either build a brand by having the site and stores the same or have a competitive website (with website prices) but with a different name to his shops. He went with the same name and started with the prices the same as in his stops but was getting killed by mine and other sites being 30-40% cheaper. His response was to drop his online prices down to the competition but with the same branding as the shops which are 40% more expensive... I personally think it's crazy, for the sake of the 10-15% of population who buy online he is ostracising 99% of his customers (the ones who buy in his shops). Just because people generally dont buy online, the vast majority (especially the 18-30 male cross section that is his typical customer) do go online and would be aware of the price difference. It just leaves a bad taste in your mouth, knowing that the same bloke is selling the stuff online for much less and he is also paying for shipping as he gives free delivery on any online orders...
I don't want to harp on too much about this but a recent little twist is that he is now selling franchises for his shops, he has sold one and I think it is opening soon, if you had bought a franchise and the franchise owner was undercutting you online while you, by having his name over your door and then having people checking the site online for your opening hours/phone number ect., are advertising for him! Its nuts, anyway there is a point in here somewhere, I would see the purpose of a website for him to advertise the fact that he has these locations. The funny thing is that (i would imagine I don't actually know) since he has had the website up I'd say the biggest change will have been not online sales but an increase of sales in his shops, having an online presence builds awareness of your locations aswell. People browse online alot and research stuff, especially when they are killing time in work, and would check out all the products and decide what they are going to go in and buy... Also inversely he would still get sales at full price on the site by people finding his locations and then searching the for the shops website directly. Obviously he would lose the sales of people who search for general terms rather than his shop name and find the cheaper online only competition...0 -
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Yea if I had a skills/services based company or even just sourced the products locally I would go ahead and expand now, the problem is that I get it all in china, so as it stands now, it takes them 6-8 weeks to manufacture the order with half (often around 40k) paid before production starts and then the other half when its completed (still 5 weeks away plus customs) then pay the vat, duty and shipping before I get the stuff.
I started in a lockup around 50 sq m while the website was taking longer than expected to get finished (and while elavon completely ****ed me around on the merchant account) and started selling through classifieds ect. in july last year.
I moved into a 100sq m warehouse with pallet racking for 100 pallets in november last year to coincide with the site finally going live and due to the demand had to move to a 250 sq m warehouse this january, it has 230 pallet spaces. Its a slow process to build up to a point where I have enough cash in the bank and also have the room and demand to fill a container and then wait three months for it! Its sort of a catch 22, basically if I did have the two extra staff I would do a higher turnover but I dont think with the 3 month delay and financial circumstances I could fulfill all the extra orders. I am sort of just going to let the dust settle and learn the buying trends a bit more before I do take the plunge and expand with more staff and proper advertising...
It also doesn't help the cashflow that I bought another silly car (in late june just before the vrt went up) to go with the one on the site
Funny you mention "just do it", in the late 80's nike had a 18% market share while reebok had around 40-50% share. Recession struck in 88 and america was in a bad way (so I heard!) while reebok decided to do like most, hold off on expansion, make cuts ect. nike decided to press on, they spent massive amounts on marketing and advertising campaigns (thats when "just do it" was first coined), they came out of the recession with a 45% market share while reebok was down to ~20% and has never recovered. The recession is a great time to expand because you get everything so much cheaper than for example during the celtic tiger, advertising, rents (thankfully these days key money is nearly a thing of the past), shop fits, builders actually ring you back and quote fairly ect.
I am tempted to open a few bricks and mortar shops, I always keep an eye on commercial properties availability and price and a few lately have really tempted me. At the moment with all the doom and gloom and alot of businesses going out of business there are some amazing deals to be had, the rent will be fixed for 5 years and when its reviewed you are in a strong negotiating point. If you can make money now, when things go mad again you can be in position to make a mint...
The thing that really interests me is how the business world is evolving with the internet and where does a website fit into a bricks and mortar business. What some would consider as my competition in the health foods business is a perfect example of this, he has three shops and last year developed a website. I'd imagine his dilemma was to either build a brand by having the site and stores the same or have a competitive website (with website prices) but with a different name to his shops. He went with the same name and started with the prices the same as in his stops but was getting killed by mine and other sites being 30-40% cheaper. His response was to drop his online prices down to the competition but with the same branding as the shops which are 40% more expensive... I personally think it's crazy, for the sake of the 10-15% of population who buy online he is ostracising 99% of his customers (the ones who buy in his shops). Just because people generally dont buy online, the vast majority (especially the 18-30 male cross section that is his typical customer) do go online and would be aware of the price difference. It just leaves a bad taste in your mouth, knowing that the same bloke is selling the stuff online for much less and he is also paying for shipping as he gives free delivery on any online orders...
I don't want to harp on too much about this but a recent little twist is that he is now selling franchises for his shops, he has sold one and I think it is opening soon, if you had bought a franchise and the franchise owner was undercutting you online while you, by having his name over your door and then having people checking the site online for your opening hours/phone number ect., are advertising for him! Its nuts, anyway there is a point in here somewhere, I would see the purpose of a website for him to advertise the fact that he has these locations. The funny thing is that (i would imagine I don't actually know) since he has had the website up I'd say the biggest change will have been not online sales but an increase of sales in his shops, having an online presence builds awareness of your locations aswell. People browse online alot and research stuff, especially when they are killing time in work, and would check out all the products and decide what they are going to go in and buy... Also inversely he would still get sales at full price on the site by people finding his locations and then searching the for the shops website directly. Obviously he would lose the sales of people who search for general terms rather than his shop name and find the cheaper online only competition...
Good few posts there Mickk. Would you believe that I saw one of your vehicles pass through Ranelagh today and being a hummer it did catch my eye.
I think you have a good idea of how business works from what you have said above. You have to be commended for reaching a T/O of 500k to date.
Few points:-
Your point regarding "bricks and clicks" - I feel that both should complement each other. One only has to look back at the Dotcom bubble in 2001 to understand the value of having a bricks strategy. The internet is just another sales / distribution channel, abeit becoming a more important and focused one since the days of the Dotcom bubble.
You are right to be investigating the "bricks" avenue to further expand your business. However my feeling would be that perhaps a retail showroom of somesort (attached to your premises) could be a good testing ground for to develop concepts and continue to create brand awareness. I also think if you are to go down the bricks avenue, you will have to rebrand to something a little more generic (especially if you have thoughts of going to the UK - I'm afraid the brits might not be too enamoured with Irish Lifting
).
Few other points: -
Yep, we're facing into a recession and yes it's a great time to get into the right business. However it's important to stay focused on costs. Running two cars (I would feel) is an unnecessary expense. Having a hummer is a good marketing tool (an expensive one may I add) but is two cars necessary? A van or a small truck might be of more use to you. Also, a 3 months lead time on stock sounds like madness (in terms of cash flow etc), however I do appreciate that the stuff it coming from China. Can this be negotiated?
I see you have a gym. How are you using the gym to market the website? Have you a website for the Gym?
At the moment you're pretty much a one man band. You need to employ a few people before you run yourself into the ground. I acknowledge that it's desperately hard to find reliable staff but the entrapreneur who tries to do everything himself / herself will get it very hard to succeed in the long run. You have to be able to trust other folk (within reason) to do a job for you. Having built up the T/O you now need to be focusing on strategy and the systems that will allow your business to expand.
Finally, I think you have the basis for a very good business and certainly a business that could go very far with the right people on board.0 -
Hmm it is what intrigues me, is the internet an extra revenue stream or the revenue stream. To be competitive online you need to be cheaper than the high street and I just dont see them really working together. Either use it as a marketing tool to add some sales to your existing or really compete online and make it work as an independent business. If I were to open a few shops I would not call them irish lifting and I would have to change my product line significantly, its a completely different business model. The reasoning behind the name was that I liked .coms much more than .ie and its obvious instantly where I am based, when looking for heavy gym equipment its the most important thing...
I actually read up about adwords alot and ran a campaign for two months last nov-dec but couldn't keep up with the demand! I will be in position in jan this year to advertise properly and I will have a warehouse full of 230 pallets of stock.
As for the cars its just my thing, I dont drink or smoke and I work damn hard so I can afford the expense, its what keeps me going and what I work for. Even the car I bought in july was a product of the recession over in the uk, I negotiated nearly 20k off the asking price of the car because I knew they were pretty desperate to sell and I got it in just before the goverment slapped on another 8k vrt! The way I look at it is you only live once, you will only look back and regret it if its what you really wanted.
I am selling the gym as I need to spend 100% of my time on this, the gym was always a hobby and still my passion but a small hardcore gym is not meant to make big money and I never intended it to, the problem is that people buy memberships from you but they actually come back and use it! If you were to get rid of any heavy weights and "hardcore stuff" and have a nice fluffy fitness centre with jacuzzi's and gold leaf ceilings then the only people who would join are the good intentions and new years resolution crowd who only last a few days
The times from china cant be helped, I could buy from a middleman in the uk which would save a load of time and financial commitment upfront but wheres the fun in that, if i can juggle the stock needed and move the volume needed to make it viable to buy direct from china then why bother with a middle man, there is alot more money to be made if you can make the direct route work...0 -
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Hammertime wrote: »Mick I actually think we know each other.
Did you train in Flex in teh good old days of John and Gerry O'G ?
When flex was on frederick st or talbot st? I owned it for a while when it was called body systems on fred st. Poor old george bought it off otis but didn't know the landlord was owed a fortune by otis... You probably do know me, there isn't to many petrol stations I pass by, I should start buying it off you in bulk
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