[hongkongdmz]

Re: Help With Business Plan

Do the older forum members here run their own businesses then? It seems like me and the others who just have a few posts have just started or are thinking about our own business. Do you need a business plan and a marketing plan before you start the website? And again im just wondering how best to advertise, business cards sounds like a good idea. I'd be putting hkdmz on them, but would that also depend on the market i was targeting as well? The I could identity key areas to promote my t-shirts. Would you want to give business cards to everyone to promote your business when you first established yourself?

Sorry for all the questions, i'm pretty new and pretty young. But very eager to learn.....

 

[Rodney]

Moved post to its own topic

You'll find out answers to lots of these questions as you keep reading the various posts in the forum (which it loosk like you're doing )

Maybe some members might be able to chime into this topic as well.

From what I've seen though, it helps us help you better when there is one question per topic For me it helps narrow down the answers and keep me from being overwhelmed by the volume.

 

[Solmu]

Re: Help With Business Plan

Do you need a business plan and a marketing plan before you start the website?

Need? No. Can it help? Yes.

You don't need a business plan when you declare bankruptcy either... in fact if you get to that stage you're twice as likely not to have one

And again im just wondering how best to advertise, business cards sounds like a good idea. [...] Would you want to give business cards to everyone to promote your business when you first established yourself?

Personally I don't think business cards are a great way to promote yourself.

If you're selling somewhere (a blues festival for example) and have the opportunity to give them to people, that's useful. If people say "Where you'd get that cool shirt?" and you give them a business card, that's useful. If someone makes an order and you include a card to remind them of you for next time/give to a friend, that might be useful. If you're selling retail and the retailer is insane (and therefore lets you put some cards with your stock), that's useful.

They're worth having, but unless you're giving it to someone because they wanted it they're not likely to look at it or keep it. If you leave a stack of them on a bar for example... well they're cheap so there's no harm in giving it a try, but I wouldn't expect (m)any conversions.