Ready, Fire, Aim

It's amazing how much more is getting done with doing less. I'm not spending time on a business plan, nor am I thinking about every SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) possible. I don't remember where I heard the idea of ready, fire, aim, but it seems appropriate for what I'm trying to do. I'm ready to start a business, test the business, and then plan.

Update on the business so far. I've found the niche market I'm going after- Pregnant women. What a great market! Why? First, the marketing can be very targeted. There are specific magazines for this target market. Even magazines for different age groups in this market. There are a lot of websites dedicated to this market. Between the magazines and websites, I can spend marketing dollars and know that every cent will count. Second, I've found the product. Its a product that allows pregnant women help with one of their biggest complaints- always having to lay on their side and not the stomach. Third, women will spend gobs of money on their children even before they are born.

I've built the website using Microsoft Office Live which has everything on the web for free. No required software and no cost. LOVE IT! It is not a solve all your website wants or needs, but it gets it off the ground. I used godaddy.com to register my domain name for $9.99 per year. One of my biggest challenges was deciding on the content of my website. I ended up using information that other websites had about my product. I also used other websites information and just revamped it for my purposes. You could easily get this done in a day. I would bet that after using this technique on a couple of business ideas that this process could be cut down to only a few hours. The one thing I do not have is a logo. I'm not a graphic designer or very good with an design programs, so this will have to wait until my business idea is proven to be a success.

I've also contacted my potential supplier about becoming a distributor for the product. With this idea, I plan on offering the product for rental. I don't need to get a discount on the product if the idea turns out to work, but I want the discount if I can get it. So, I sent an email, made a phone call, filled out the application, sent in the application, sent a follow up email, and made a follow up phone call. I still haven't heard anything back. I hate being dependent on someone else before I can move forward. Here I sit twiddling my thumbs for that answer. FRUSTRATING!

Well, there is no use in doing nothing. What is my next steps? Oh yeah, some of the other things that I did was get my domain pointed to my website, set up email using my domain name, submitted my website and sitemap to google, and found some great stock photos on istock.com. If you do not know how to do these things, do not worry. In office live go to the domain manager and community sections. They explain everything. Then search for google webmaster tools and follow the steps. The google webmaster was not explained in the easiest way, so expect to spend a little time figuring out if this is the first time like it was for me.

Ok, back on track. Next Steps?

1. Set up a google ad words account and start thinking of the keywords you will use. www.mywifequitherjob.com had a great article on the process of testing out ad words to find the best combination.

2. Find all the online forums of people asking questions that would relate to my product so I can answer the questions later.

3. Find out rate cards for the magazines I want to advertise in. By the way, don't pay full price for advertising because everything is negotiable in advertising.

4. Do some research on shopping cart/credit card processing software.

Back to work for me. No rest for the successful.