For some time I have been keen to set up an online business venture.
My first foray into ecommerce was a website that offered custom written poems for all occasions. I used a template for the website and paid my monthly charges so that I did not have to worry about the techie side of things. Sitting back and waiting for my website to be found was a bit naïve. However, word of mouth reached a very good friend, Kevin, who placed an order for a leaving card. He supplied the details about his colleague that I had asked for to get me started on the poem. After some minor tweaking, he was happy with the poem and paid the going rate by card. But Kevin was my only customer as my costs were racking up over time.
After about a year I gave up on that venture without even trying to promote the service. There were plenty of people out there offering the same sort of thing at low rates, or even for free! But it didn’t put me off the idea that there is a market for my writing.
Online proofreading and editing is my latest venture. This time I wanted for a bit more control over the way the website looks, and I wanted ownership of the domain name, jdscribe.com
I bought the domain name from Google, and tried out the email and various apps that would come in handy. All worked fine and was reasonably priced. Next I searched for a Google approved developer for my business idea. I found a local, not-for- profit organisation and discussed how I wanted the online trading to function. They supplied a detailed proposal including the charges for the development project and the software maintenance. I was impressed by their understanding of what I wanted to achieve, but unfortunately did not have sufficient funds at that time to sign on the dotted line for work to commence.
Looking back, their charges were fair and I could have made more effort to scratch together the money the developers needed to get the ball rolling. I focused too narrowly on the low cost nature of my business plan, not fully appreciating, before negotiations took place, that quality work has to be properly rewarded.Hindsight is a great thing to have, as long as you learn something from it.
More about my latest ecommerce experiences in the next blog.
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