Start online. (Second part). The project.

In this second installment of the series of articles on online entrepreneurship that I am going to write, I would like to talk to you about the importance of being clear about the online project that you are going to undertake.

take paper and pencil 

The first thing you have to do is write on a piece of paper (or a Moleskine-type notebook if you're more of a geek) an outline of your online project, indicating: 

• What product or service are you going to offer that is of value to others.
• How much does it cost, how much are you going to charge for it. 
• What differentiates you from your competition. 
• What resources do you have? 

This will give you a vision about your online project that you may not have considered until you saw it written. It has been very effective for me on many occasions, to the point of, once seeing it in writing, discarding the idea due to its complexity or little future.

What product or service are you going to offer that is of value to others?

This is, for me, the most important point, because if what you want to offer is not going to be of use to anyone, nobody is going to buy or hire it, and obviously your project does not have much hope of coming to fruition. 

Remember that people are looking for entertainment or for you to solve a problem for them. Keep this in mind.

Let's imagine that your online project involves offering healthy and seasonal products (fruit, vegetables,...) at home.

This solves one problem, or more than one. 

One of the problems that it solves would be the lack of time, or the comfort, of those people who work, have complicated schedules, etc., but would like to eat healthy. 

Ask yourself: would you pay an extra to receive an order at your home or office, of fresh and healthy products, chosen and selected, that you choose through an online store?

I particularly yes. 

And above all, ask others (friends, acquaintances, friends of friends, acquaintances of acquaintances and everyone who comes your way). This would be doing a small market study that can be very useful (in addition to promoting your business offline before its launch).

At this point you should ask yourself another series of questions: 

Who would be my target audience, my clients? 

If you have already detected that need, now you must think about what type of person you are going to address, who are your clients.

We have already commented that it would be busy people who want to eat healthy. 

Or not. 

Your clients can also be people who seek comfort, and even if they have time, they prefer to spend it on other things than going to a greengrocer, looking for parking, waiting in line, etc., etc., 

Ask others. People like to talk a lot (in a good way) and surely you will detect more than one type of potential client, who you will have to approach in a different way.

How much does it cost, how much are you going to charge for it. 

Take time to value your product or service.

Put a price on it and above all, value yourself.

It is important that you think carefully about what your fees will be, in the case of offering services, or what price you should apply to your products. 

If you aim low and set prices that are too low, you may sell more, but perhaps the time you have to invest or the cost of your products do not offer you a sufficiently interesting margin to be profitable.

Let's go back to the example of the basket of fresh fruits and vegetables. 

Let's say that the cost of the products represents a profit of 10%. You would have to sell baskets of 100 euros to earn 10. And then discount other expenses that you will have to assume (website, hosting, advertising, etc.), so it is very likely that you will end up with red numbers in your accounts. 

In this case, you should look for a supplier (or several) that offers you good prices and thus be able to sell the basket to your customers at a reasonable price and at the same time make a profit. It seems obvious, but I have seen many more cases than I would like where the real costs have not been taken into account (costs that you had not thought of always arise) that eat up your business margin, leading you to bankruptcy before the expected. 

What sets you apart from the competition?

If you don't do something different from your competition, you won't be a competition from your competition. 

This tongue twister summarizes a reality: You must ALWAYS offer something different. Whether it's better prices (it's the first thing you think of and the most difficult thing to offer), a personalized and close treatment (this is something to take into account and that also does not imply an expense or investment).

What resources do you have?

In this series of articles we are dealing with online entrepreneurship, whether it is offering online or physical services or selling digital or physical products, but always using the Internet as a means of promotion and customer acquisition.

Thus You must have a website more or less complex, but a website. In this WordPress is your best ally since for much less than what a traditional website would cost you (both in time and money), you will have a piece of website with everything you may need. 

WordPress is your ally when it comes to launching a website for your online venture

And no, a Facebook page is not worth it. That is bread for today and hunger for tomorrow. I have experienced cases where social networks have been trusted as the main (and even the only) means of attracting customers and it has been a disaster as soon as the friend Mark Zuckerberg decides that your content violates their rules. 

A Facebook page is not an alternative to your own website, it is a complement.

You must have your own website with your own domain (.com, .es or whatever you prefer). This is a must.

And of course, for this you need to have or acquire knowledge to start it up (installation, configuration, etc.) or hire someone to do it for you. Or time or money, in both cases the investment will always be positive.

Or you have time and you have money.

Something to keep in mind is that you have the possibility of partnering with other entrepreneurs who are in the same vein and who can add value to your project. 

For example, if you lack knowledge about WordPress you can always find someone willing to collaborate with you on your online project within the same WordPress community.
Check out meetups (regular free and open events) happening near you. (See list of active WordPress Meetup in Spain)

If you find someone interested in collaborating with you by offering the development part of your website, you can compensate by offering what you know how to do best for your online project. That is your great resource.

And today we stay here.

Next week we will continue with this series of entries related to online entrepreneurship.

If you want to leave a comment indicating your doubts or what you would like us to discuss in future articles in this series, you will be welcome. 

We read!

Other articles in this series:

• Start online. (First part).